Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Environmental activist, Mr. Newton Jibunoh, yesterday, attributed the environmental challenges plaguing the country to lip service by leaders of federal, states and local governments.
Jibunoh accused the leadership of the country for not matching their beautiful speeches with action on issues relating to the environment. The 82-year old environmentalist said he warned about the dangers of encroaching indiscriminately on the environment over 25 years ago, lamenting that his warning was ignored by governors who cared less about the environment.
Jibunoh who spoke in Asaba during a visit to the Director General of Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency (DSCTDA), Mrs. Onyeamaechi Mrakpor, said the failure to curb the crisis of desertification and desert encroachment in the north had led to the migration of nomadic herdsmen to the southern part of the country.
He said at a forum in Kano State with representatives of the US and UK governments and 11 Nigerian governors, the country was warned to take steps to stop desertification and desert encroachment threatening to dry up Lake Chad.
“I warned that there will be crisis not only in the middle belt states like Benue, but also in the core southern states. I saw it that if nothing was done to stop desertification, there will be war, and that is what we are witnessing now.”