UNESCO selects Ogun for $1m biodiversity, poverty reduction project

Ogun State has been selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) among three other states in the country to benefit from its biodiversity project towards protecting the environment.

This was disclosed by the Head of the UNESCO office, Nigeria, Mr Jean-Paul Abiaga, during a visit to the Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Mr Tokunbo Talabi, on Tuesday, in Abeokuta.

Abiaga explained that the biodiversity project, worth $1 million, would lift no fewer than 600 participants out of poverty across the state through education, forestry and agricultural practices.

He noted that the project would be premised within Omo Biosphere Reserve covering Ijebu North and Ijebu East Local Government Areas of the State, just as it also chose Oban Biosphere Reserve in Cross-River and Shere Hills Reserve in Jos, Plateau State, respectively.

“The biodiversity business is a means to poverty reduction, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development,” he said.

Abiaga further revealed that 200 beneficiaries had been identified, while the remaining participants would still be nominated by stakeholders across 10 communities in the two designated local government areas.

He added that businesses would be revived and developed as the biodiversity project would take the youth out of poverty through technical, financial and educational support in piggery and fish farming.

The Ogun SSG, in his remarks, appreciated UNESCO for the support and partnership that would boost the anti-deforestation campaign and crusade of the State government against illegal human activities in the Omo forest Reserve, which is an approximately 130,500-hectare land area with high biodiversity and a variety of vegetation, including the Omo River.

Talabi noted that the Omo forest also contained over 200 types of trees, 125 species of birds and numerous mammals, such as the endangered chimpanzee, forest elephant and white-throated guenon monkey, among others.

The SSG assured UNESCO of the State Government’s full support for the project to deliver on its set objectives, adding that the government would mobilise and galvanise necessary support through its relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, among others.

ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE