Abia State Government says 1, 200 erosion sites, constituting a major ecological disaster, have been identified in the state.

The State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, who disclosed this yesterday in Umuahia, said in view of the huge capital outlay required to tackle the ecological problem, his administration was prepared to key into the joint World Bank and Federal Government’s erosion control programme through the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management initiative (NEWMAP).

To demonstrate its readiness for the partnership, Ikpeazu who was receiving the Task Team leader of the NEWMAP and his team at Government House, said the state would not joke with payment of counterpart funds since it could not address the erosion menace in the state alone.

The governor particularly appealed to the team to take a critical look at the Ndiegoro Aba which suffers perennial flooding and was now a disaster area.

He expressed fears that Abia may be exposed to a major ecological disaster except the threatening erosion menace was urgently tackled and promised to give the team the necessary support it needed to function.

Earlier, the task team leader of the NEWMAP team, Dr. Amos Abu, had explained that the NEWMAP was a joint project between the World Bank, the federal government of Nigeria, in conjunction with states implementing the erosion control programme, adding that Abia was one of the pioneer states

Abu said that the team was intensifying efforts to reduce the vulnerability of the people to erosion and in creating jobs and appealed to the state to pay its NEWMAP counterpart fund and, as well, select the most vulnerable erosion sites for remediation.

•Photo shows one of the many erosion sites.

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