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| Commissioner for Environment, Engineer Mike Eraye interviewed by Government House correspondent, Solomon Asha and Beatrice Akpala |
By Solomon Asha
As part of the deliberate blueprint to make the city of Calabar, the Cross River capital all year round green and aesthetically beautiful, the Governor of cross River, Senator Ben Ayade is putting in place a structure for city irrigation to ensure effective city capping/trees planting and operation restoration of green areas in Calabar.
The Commissioner for Environment, Engineer Mike Eraye who disclosed this yesterday in an interview with Solomon Asha and Beatrice Akpala, while supervising the on going work of replanting trees and destroyed grasses/carpets along the broken line between 11-11 axis and IBB Way, in Calabar, he explained that the leadership of Senator Ayade in Cross River is committed to ensuring a fresh, clean and healthy air for the residents of the city as well as attracting Carbon Credit to the state.
On the ministry’s assignment Engr. Eraye explained, “we have a target which is near infinity, which is His Excellency’s 5million trees target and we would be contributing to ensure the realization of that target, and it is going to be continuous, it will recognize no dry season as we are putting structure on ground for city irrigation; And throughout the dry season we would go and by God’s grace we will continue to have rain in Calabar”
He said disclosed that city capping is the generation of canopies on our roads/ways, and that what they are doing now is to link the broken link to ensure continuity in this portion from 11-11 (stadium) to IBB way, as you will find a good example in MCC and Atekong Drive, while listing the benefits of city capping/operation trees planting to include aesthetic value, checkmating of climate change, attraction of carbon credit to boost revenue generation, fights against dirt’s/carbon dioxide/monoxides from vehicles/generating plants and other sources of pollutants by replacing them with fresh and clean air vital to human beings.
On the species of trees to be planted the Commissioner for Environment stated that some of the species will be brought from places like Jos, Plateau, Ibadan, Ghana, from the wilds and other locations, and that same variety with the existing one in a particular locality would be brought to link up from where there was a discontinuity, reconnect with similar trees, redesign the structure as it is on ground, adding that some varieties will be difficult to get, and that we are already in September, while taking biological and scientific factors into consideration.
“You will recalled that the green vehicle has lost through human activities, including the canopy as you can see from IBB to this point where we are working, there are no trees standing again, we want to restore the trees, and for aesthetic values and symmetry, there must be a line. We deploy services of surveyors and we are going to replant to reconnect with IBB. Many factors would be responsible to ensure the success of the assignment. Species are difficult to get we will get them from Jos, Ibadan, Ghana, the wilds and other locations”.
On the growing rate of the various species, Engr. Eraye explained that it depend on the species, that while some grow fast as the ones along 11-11 which were planted 2013/2014 whiles others may grow slowly, and the reason for bringing those that grow slowly is to plant them along paths where high tension electricity cables passes through, hence the ministry is taking pains to select where we plat what and where”.
Engr. Eraye concluded with a message to Cross Riverians and other Nigerians loving in Cross River “that everyone should use the walkway, as it is only the hunters that take bush paths. Government has deliberately invested a lot of resources in building walkways, the people should use them and avoid destroying the grasses and the canopies. There are heavy penalties for violating the rule as they will face the mobile court. When we get to buildup areas where we have organized settlements, residents would be at liberty to choose the species of trees we should plant at the front of their houses”.
