File photo
The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has warned African leaders that the world would pay a steep price if selfish interests and a collective failure to rise to the challenge of tackling issues surrounding the Lake Chad basin crisis is allowed to thrive.
He said this while soliciting for greater regional, continental and international support at an international conference on saving the Lake Chad in the nation’s capital.
The two-day conference, organised by the government in Abuja and the Lake Chad Basin Commission, aims to “Save the lake from extinction”, according to UNESCO, which is backing the talks.
A $6.5-million (5.3-million-euro) research and conservation programme will involve Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, whose borders meet on the lake, as well as the Central African Republic.
Troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria are fighting a battle against Boko Haram jihadists in the remote region.
Lake Chad is the principal source of freshwater for 40 million people.
But climate change and water mismanagement have contributed to a staggering 90 percent decline of the lake’s surface over the past 40 years.
As it dries up and hunger rises, the region has become fragile and Boko Haram have targeted subsistence farmers and fishermen to fill their ranks.
The ongoing Islamist insurgency has forced tens of thousands of people to cross borders in search of food and safety.
The UN estimates that more than two million people have been uprooted from their homes and 10.7 million are in need of food handouts to survive.
The post Osinbajo Challenges African Leaders To Tackle Lake Chad Basin Crisis appeared first on Channels Television.
Osinbajo Challenges African Leaders To Tackle Lake Chad Basin Crisis
