The Gombe State Government has signed a contract worth more than twelve billion naira (N12,000,000,000) with the intention of addressing the state’s 21-kilometer-long gully erosion, protecting human life, and maintaining the environment.
The 21-kilometer contract Worth N12, 057, 248, 267.00, passes through several communities, including London Maidoruwa, Malam Inna, Wuro Ledde, Wuro Kesa, and Arawa, on its way from the Federal College of Education (Technical), Gombe, to the Railway Line.
The Gombe State Government and the World Bank’s Agro-Climate Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) initiative are co-funding the erosion control work.
The contract was signed by the Procurement Officer of ACReSAL Project, Gombe State Coordinating Unit, on behalf of the state government, while the Managing Director of Triacta Nigeria Limited, Engineer Eli Fahad, signed for the construction company.
The signing ceremony was presided over by Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, who noted that the occasion marked a significant advancement in the group’s resolve to rebuild the agricultural and environmental landscapes that had been devastated by gully erosion and environmental degradation.
He pointed out that gully erosion has had decades of disastrous effects on Gombe State, known as “the erosion capital of the North East,” displacing communities and endangering lives and property.
With reference to programs like the Gombe Goes Green (3G) project, which was started in 2019 with the intention of preventing desertification, deforestation, and soil erosion through yearly tree-planting campaigns, the governor of Gombe State emphasized his administration’s dedication to environmental sustainability.
According to the governor, it is estimated that over four hundred thousand (400,000) people live along the gully corridor in constant fears for their lives and property, noting that about 89 per cent of these people are poor and, therefore, lack the resilience to withstand or mitigate against the devastating effects of environmental menace.
He enumerated the successes recorded in the intervention of his administration since taking over the realms in the state in 2019:
He expressed confidence that his administration would continue on a journey to reclaim the environmental landscapes, protect the communities, and secure a prosperous future for generations yet unborn, through the help of the ACReSAL project, like its predecessor, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP).
Governor Yahaya called on stakeholders to partner with the contractors and other professionals that would handle the project so as to ensure its successful and timely completion.
While presenting the signed contract document to the Managing Director of Triacta Nigeria Limited, which emerged winner after the bidding process, the governor remarked that the contract represented a formal agreement and a pledge to the people of Gombe State that his administration was taking decisive steps to protect the environment against the impacts of climate change and its associated consequences.
In the meantime, the Commissioner for Water, Environment and Forest Resources, Mr. Mohammed Saidu Fawu, appreciated the commitment of the Gombe State Government in paying the five hundred thousand naira (N500,000) counterpart requirement and for also fulfilling all necessary conditions for the state to benefit from the project.
