FIGHTING EROSION CRISIS IN NIGERIA: THE DEFENCE COLLEGE ALUMNI TAKES ON SILT MANAGEMENT TO FILL A STRATEGIC GAP

BY

TANKO AHMED, fwcSenior Fellow (Security & Strategic Studies)

Research Directorate, NIPSS, Kuru-Jos

NB: Uniformed in War College Exercise, 2005

Submitted to the Alumni Association of the National Defence College (AANDEC)

December 2016

The Project Theme

“To map, identify points, assess, harvest, package and move rich fertile silt deposits blocking streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and valleys - to refill denuded space, and establish sustainable commercial distribution venture for continuous rehabilitation and utilization of silt management across Nigeria”.

Fate of World Bank Projects• The World Bank (WB) has recently earmarks $500m

for Erosion Crisis in Nigeria through its agency, the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP).

• A number of World Bank Intervention Projects in Nigeria are at best evaluated as ‘moderately unsatisfactory’, particularly those anchored to complementary government response and performance at various levels.

Need for Competent Partnership

• Projects such as this, involving remarkably large scale grants and counter-funding at various governmental levels, would require open and competent partnership by stakeholders.

AANDEC Endowment• The AANDEC Consult Limited (ACL) is endowed with

adequate human and material competence for partnership with the WB-NEWMAP to identify and fill critical gaps for the success of the anti-erosion project in Nigeria.

• The ACL is the entrepreneurial arm of the Alumni Association of the National Defence College vested with large concentration of knowledgeable, skilled and experienced professionals in engineering, logistics, mining and agriculture.

Concept Note

• This Concept Note expresses ACL’s interest to participate in the WB-NEWMAP anti-erosion project in Silt Management at small, medium and large scales.

• Five components of the project include silt removal from clog ups; packaging and distribution of fertile soil; refilling of denuded space; and mass mobilization of people for a sustainable silt management to check erosion crisis in Nigeria.

A PROLOGUE

Way of the Warriors

‘A dull blade does not cut; a weak spear does not pierce; a rent shield does not defend; a soft heart does not conquer; and a slow mind does not win’.

Culled From: ‘The First Aphorism of the 100 Aphorisms of the Gorean Warrior Codes’, in Warriors of Jasmine: Complete Warrior Codes and Aphorisms

The Association

The Alumni Association of the National Defence College (AANDEC), Nigeria has its rallying code as ‘constructive engagement’ with the lager society, which is also the title of its Journal, The Constructive Engagement.

Spirit of Warrior Code

Driven by the powerful spirit of Warrior Code, the Association practically treads on the path of putting courageous ideas to action.

The Entrepreneurial Arm

Its entrepreneurial arm, the AANDEC Consult Limited was established to deliver services, mostly of strategic intervention beyond the reach of other sectors in society.

A Constructive Engagement

This partnership proposal with the World Bank Anti-Erosion Project on Silt Management is a sample of its ‘constructive engagement’ with larger society.

INTRODUCTION‘… A Constructive Engagement with the Larger Society …’

– The AANDEC Rally Call

Background

• The World Bank (WB) earmarks $500 for erosion crisis in Nigeria through its outlet, the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP).

• World Bank projects are often susceptible to unintended negative impacts, not always the fault of the agency, but mostly for faulty delivery system.

• However, World Bank success stories in countries like Korea, Brazil, Kenya, Morocco, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts, Turkey and Vietnam often featured support from innovative partnerships with capable agencies.

Prospects of World Bank Projects• It is a fact that between 2009 and 2013 alone about 3.4

million people were displaced from their homes and livelihood; and about $50 billion worth of projects featured high risk for irreversible or unprecedented social or environmental impacts due to World Bank projects (Charkin et al, 2015).

• This trend might have informed the establishment of the World Bank the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (WB-NEWMAP) to ensure success and positive impact of the anti-erosion project.

Rating World Bank Projects in Nigeria

• A number of World Bank Intervention Projects in Nigeria are at best evaluated as ‘moderately unsatisfactory’, particularly those anchored to complementary government response and performance at various levels (IBRD/WB, 2010).

• The AAADEC Consult Limited identifies silt management as critical area mostly missing in anti-erosion processes, particular in the erosion crisis facing Nigeria.

World Bank/AANDEC Partnership

• Capable knowledgeable, skilled, experienced hands and capacity are readily available in the membership of this Association in and out of service.

• A partnership between the WB-NEWMAP and the ACL would bring success and positive impact on curtailing erosion crisis in Nigeria.

DEFINITION OF

KEY TERMS

Institutional Terms

• World Bank Intervention Projects are situational by nature in which the agency designs and implement programmes as intervention to assist in solving identified problems.

• Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project was designed to address a multi-dimensional scale of erosion and land degradation in Nigeria.

• AANDEC Company Limited was established by the Alumni Association of the National Defence College (AANDEC), Nigeria to partake in mutual partnership with agencies, to provide for and fill-in strategic gaps in the translation and execution of projects.

Physical Terms

• Erosion is the gradual removal, breakdown, reduction, weakening or destruction of earth surface involving movement and deposition of soil mass.

• Denudation refers to the process of eroding top fertile or habitat soil which renders affected space unproductive or inhabitable.

• Soil Deposit is large body of displaced soil and particles often lodged at streams or river sides and around ponds, lakes and valleys forming marsh or swamps.

• Clog Ups are obstructions due to soil or silt deposits by streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and valleys requiring removal to allow for free flow as anti-flooding component of anti-erosion project.

Silt Deposit

Processing Terms

• Anti-Erosion Project is introduced to check the menace of erosion in its ramification, including restoration and rehabilitation of affected areas.

• Silt is fine-grained sediments of mud, clay and sand often fertile and rich in soil nutrients good for rehabilitation, restoration and improvement of agriculture, forestry and landscaping.

• Silt Management involves mapping, identification of points, assessing, harvesting, and packaging. It includes the movement rich fertile silt deposits blocking streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and valleys to refill and restore denuded space. It also involves the establishment of a sustainable commercial distribution venture for continuous rehabilitation and utilization of silt management across Nigeria.

Silt Management

EROSION CRISIS IN

NIGERIA

The Nigerian Physical Environment

• Erosion everywhere involves systemic removal of soil, including plant nutrients in top fertile soil often deposited as heavy silt blocking rivers and filling up lakes downstream.

• The Nigerian physical environment, in geological and geomorphologic settings, is characterized by rapid coastal, plains and gulley erosions (Ofomata, 1987).

• The Nigerian physical environment is seriously susceptible to problem of erosion with its associated silt blockades.

THE PROBLEM

• Nigeria bears more than 40% cover of loose cretaceous sandstones and deeply weathered basement complex rocks surface susceptible to disastrous erosion (Ofomata, 1987; Haggai, 2016).

• The country witnesses a geological process of mass removal and deposition of its fertile top soil denuding large habitat and arable soil and choking downstream blocking streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and valleys.

• Silt Management process remains critical as major challenge to the overall success of the anti-erosion project in Nigeria.

CHALLENGES OF EROSION MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA

Gap in Anti-Erosion Strategies

• Anti-Erosion projects management strategies always tend to address and check soil displacement, channeling and restoration mostly leaving out remedy for denudation.

• Two examples are in the common practice seen in the old Udi Forest Reserve in 1922 and the Jos Plateau Minefields restoration have addressed and checked the problem only halfway (Ofomata, 1987).

• The AANDEC Consult has identified a critical gap in the absence of systematic Silt Management in the overall anti-erosion process which it proposes to fill-in.

Failures and Success Stories

• Two major extreme examples of erosion crisis failure and success are seen in the disappearance of the East African Groundnut Scheme and the Russian Minefields Redemption Project, respectively.

• The East African Groundnut Scheme collapsed due to rapid erosion of suitable top rich soil washed into the Great Lakes (Ofomata, 1987).

• The Russian efforts in moving fertile soil silt from rivers, lakes and coastal dredging perfectly created farmlands, forest and recreation out of wrecked mine pits and desolate landscapes (Haggai, 2016).

• The AANDEC Consult aims at the adaptation of the Russian Model in its Silt Management proposal.

AANDEC PARTNERSHIP

PROPOSAL

Silt Management

• The AANDEC Company Limited proposes a partnership with the WB-NEWMAP and other relevant agencies in redeeming the apparent seemingly irreversible erosion crisis in Nigeria at small, medium and large scale levels.

• The proposal bids to map, identify points, assess, harvest, package and move rich fertile silt blocking streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and valleys.

• It aims to refill denuded space and establish sustainable commercial distribution for continuous rehabilitation and utilization of silt management across Nigeria.

Silt Harvesting and Packaging

Methodology

• The ACL will mobilize its human resource-base and collaborate, cooperate and coordinate with relevant agencies and professional bodies to achieve these objectives.

• For example, the Centre for Geodesy and Geodynamics based in Toro, Bauchi State established to carry out earth observation research could be of great use in identifying eroded space and silt deposit points at small, medium and larger scales.

Stakeholder Buy-In• Other organizations relevant to this project are spread

across ministries, departments and agencies at the 3-tier federal, state and local governments and accessible to the ACL.

• Pilot projects of all sizes may be required as models for delivery and public mobilization.

• Details of these are to be worked out by Committee of Experts under ACL/WB-NEWMAP collaboration expressed as Work Papers of the various components of the ACL Proposal.

Components of the ACL Proposal

The ACL proposal has five major components as follows:

a) To map, identify points, assess and harvest silt at small, medium and large scale efforts;

b) To remove Silt from clog ups; c) To package and distribute fertile soil; d) To refill and restore denuded space; and e) To mobilize people for a sustainable silt

management to check erosion crisis in Nigeria.

Participants in the Project

The Project will include the following Participants:a) The World Bank - Nigeria Erosion and

Watershed Management Project (WB-NEWMAP).

b) The AANDEC Consult Limitedc) Relevant Ministries, Department and

Agencies (MDAs) at all levels (Federal, State and Local governments).

d) Other relevant partners/institutions as may be required.

PROJECT BENEFITS

Immediate Outcomes

• The immediate outcomes of the proposed Silt Management will contribute to the solutions of the erosion crises in Nigeria opening of natural and alternative water courses and reservoirs and reduce the ferocity of floods aggravating massive erosion across the land.

• This process will also provide canals for water flow and irrigation; reopen and replenish ponds and lakes; reinforce valleys and plains; rehabilitate and restore landscapes, forestry, farmlands and wildlife habitats.

• Primary sectoral impact on the environment and agriculture will trigger rural and community development in aid of agricultural produce and effective remedy to hazards of climate change.

Short and Long Term Impacts

• Short and long terms impact will be felt in employment and income generation, boost in grassroots activities, including prosperity-induced peace among the people.

• Other attractions will include investments, tourism, community governance and sustainable development.

• This break-point project will also usher in a strategic management process model for handling other major crises impedimental to national development.

CONCLUSION

Summary

• The World Bank earmarks $500m for anti-erosion projects in Nigeria which requires partnership of competent agencies to improve on its ‘moderately unsatisfactory’ success rates.

• The AANDEC-ACL, with its capacity and purpose-driven membership, has the man power, knowledge, skills and strategic capability for competent partnership with the WB-NEWMAP anti-erosion project in Nigeria.

• Silt management is identified as the critical component of the anti-erosion process often neglected, creating a strategic gap to be filled by the AANDEC-ACL in pursue of its ‘constructive engagement with the larger society’.

Conclusion• It is concluded that projects such as this, involving

remarkably large scale grants and counter-funding at various governmental levels, would require open and competent partnership by relevant stakeholders.

• That the AANDEC-ACL could organize and coordinate resources and various stakeholders to undertake the process of silt management to fill-in the strategic gap in the overall anti-erosion project.

• And, that there is immediate-, short- and long-term multi-sectoral multiplier benefits in project enhancement, socio-economic capacity building, and progress in Nigeria at large.

Recommendations

The following recommendations and implementation strategies are forwarded for consideration by the AANDEC-ACL with a view to realizing the feasibility of this Concept Note:

Recommendation 1AANDEC-ACL should establish a Committee of experts to produce a Technical Assessment and Business Plan for Silt Management Project within the World Bank Anti-Erosion project.

Implementation Strategies:a. AANDEC President to commission a Planning Committee to

shortlist experts, within and outside the Association, to study and come up with Technical Assessment and Business Plan

b. AANDEC-ACL to engage profession project planners or consultants to tidy up or standardize the Technical Assessment and Business Plan

Recommendation 2AANDEC-ACL should conduct an inter-agency stakeholder buy-in process, for approaching the WB-NEWMAP, for partnership in the Anti-erosion project.

Implementation Strategies:a. Contact with relevant Ministries, Departments and

Agencies for stakeholder meeting to build a common ground for approaching the World Bank on the Project.

b. Contact with higher authorities, like the Presidency, National Assembly and other Influencers to support the Proposal.

Recommendation 3AANDEC-ACL should approach the World Bank for partnership through the Silt Management Project proposal.Implementation Strategies:a. Study and align with World Bank protocols on

project partnership and standard practice before the final approach.

b. Solicit for support from individuals, groups, agencies and any stakeholder or influencer with ability to facilitate the AANDEC/World Bank Constructive Engagement.

Reference• Charkin, S., Hallman, B., Hudson, M., Schili-Gallego, C., & Shifflett, S. (2015). How

the World Bank broke its promise to protect the poor. Huffinton Post, Wednesday, April 15. Rerieved from http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/worldbank-evicted-abandoned

• Haggai, P. (2016). Interview with Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics and Senior Research Fellow, Research Directorate, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru – Jos, Tuesday, 22 November, 2016, 12:30pm.

• Ofomata, G. E. K. (1987). Soil erosion in Nigeria: The views of a geomarphologist. University of Nigeria Lecture Series No. 7, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Retrieved from http://www.unn.edu.ng/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/No-7-Inaugral-Lecture.pdf. 6/12/16

• ‘The First Aphorism of the 100 Aphorisms of the Gorean Warrior Codes’. Retrieved from http://city-of-jasmine.jimdo.com/roleplayers/warriors-of-jasmine/complete-warrior-code-and-aphorisms/ 8 December 2016.

• The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank (IBRD/WB). (2010). The World Bank in Nigeria 1998-2007: Nigeria country assistance evaluation. A World Bank Publications. Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org 6/12/16

• http://ng.geoview.info/centre_for_geodesy_and_geodynamics_toro,35142434p.

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