The Minister of Environmental, Hadjia Amina Mohammed, has called on countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, LCBC, to urgently formulate policies to address the impact posed by the drying up of the lake.
The Minister made the call at the opening ceremony of the African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions Working Group on Environmental Audit, AFROSAI WGEA, on Tuesday in Abuja.
Mohammed noted that except an environment audit was carried out member countries of the commission it would be difficult to address the negative impact on the environmental.
Lake Chad Basin Commission is made up of Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. She said: “The quest for sustainable environmental management is a global concern, as the impacts of climate change, high rate of deforestation, loss of biodiversity, land degradation, desertification, and flooding are staring us in the face.”
The Minister averred that the government will continue to provide the enabling environment for the commission to tackle the negative impact associated with the residing of Lake chad saying that the “protection of our environment is the responsibility of all of us.”
Fielding questions from journalists, the Acting Auditor General of the Federation, Mrs. Florence Anyanwu, noted that failure of member states of Lake Chad Basin Commission, LCBC, to implement past reports on the state of Lake is responsible for the state of the lake.
Anyanwu urged LCBC memberstates to pool resources together to commence action in the region. She disclosed that the region will soon commenced the audit of the River Niger in order to avoid a repeat of what happened in the Lake Chad Basin.
In her goodwill message, the Chair, AFROSAI WGEA, Mbah Acha Rose, reiterated the need for African countries to work together to address the challenges posed by environmental degradation.
While lamenting the degradation of the environment, Acha Rose suggested that organisations whose activities impact negatively on the environment should be made to pay for their actions.
This is just as she canvassed good governance through transparency and accountability.
“In this regard, good governance is important in ensuring that commitment taken in the area of environmental protection and sustainable development produce credible results,” she said.
