Elochukwu Benjamin
Awka
Governor Chukwuma Soludo has declared environmental degradation the greatest existential threat facing Anambra State, calling for a fundamental shift from government-led interventions to collective citizen action as the state marks its 35th anniversary.
Speaking during a live media interactive session at the Light House in Awka as part of the Anambra @35 celebrations, Soludo said the anniversary theme, “Our Environment, Our Future: A Call for Collective Action,” reflects the urgent need to confront a crisis he described as largely self-inflicted.
He said that while his administration had made significant progress in tackling insecurity and other governance challenges, environmental degradation had emerged as the defining battle for the state’s future.
“We fought criminals to almost a standstill and confronted many other challenges, but now we are faced with an existential threat, which is the environment,” the governor said.
Soludo recalled that during his election campaign, he identified environmental degradation as Anambra’s number one existential threat, noting that the state’s severe erosion crisis is about 98 percent man-made.
According to him, the traditional approach of relying solely on government interventions has proved inadequate because the root causes of the problem lie in human behaviour.
He blamed blocked drainage channels, construction on waterways, unmanaged runoff water, reckless excavation, indiscriminate sand mining, poorly terminated drainage systems from construction projects and deforestation for worsening erosion across the state.
“Nature gave us loose soil, but with our own hands we made it worse,” he said.
The governor expressed concern that many residents have failed to recognise their personal responsibility for protecting the environment, warning that even committing all of the state’s internally generated revenue and federal allocation to erosion control would barely address the scale of the crisis unless behavioural change becomes widespread.
He revealed that Anambra currently has more than 1,000 active erosion sites across its communities, describing the situation as too extensive to be solved through engineering projects alone.
Despite the challenge, Soludo highlighted his administration’s investments in environmental protection, including nearly 30 kilometres of major erosion control projects completed across the state and efforts to integrate erosion prevention into the design of public infrastructure.
However, he stressed that the next phase of the environmental campaign would focus on prevention rather than reaction.
“Engineering alone cannot save Anambra. Unless we internalise safe environmental practices, we cannot succeed,” he said.
As part of the new strategy, the governor urged residents to take ownership of their surroundings by clearing drainage channels regularly, maintaining waste bins in homes, controlling runoff water within compounds, digging catchment pits and planting trees.
He also announced plans to launch a Compliance and Reporting Network anchored on the slogan: “See something, say something and do something.”
Soludo further disclosed that environmental education and physical planning would be incorporated into school curricula, while enforcement of environmental regulations would be strengthened across the state.
He said the government would also mainstream the implementation of the Zero Surface Runoff Water Law as part of broader preventive measures.
Describing the environmental crisis as a “war situation,” the governor maintained that victory would require discipline, data-driven policies and collective commitment from every resident.
“This problem is solvable because it is man-made. Wars are won with discipline, data and collective will,” he said.
Soludo called on the leadership of communities to champion the initiative to take back the environment by leading the enforcement of the State Environmental Laws, for the benefit of their communities.
