Last week, some academic staff members of the Gombe State University paid a visit to the office of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project in the State. The team was led by the Head of Department of Geography in the school, Dr Lazarus Mbaya. The HOD described the meeting as one embarked on, in order to explore areas of collaboration with NEWMAP, that would help in actualizing the project objectives in the state. The highlight of the meeting was agreement on the usefulness of research works in the academia to NEWMAP’s activities, and vice versa, and the subsequent agreement by both parties to collaborate in order to achieve one another’s objectives.
Hosting the team, NEWMAP State Project Coordinator in Gombe State Engr. Mohammed Garba expressed happiness on the visiting team’s decision to support the project. He charged them to use the data generated from the GIS mapping of the entire state done by NEWMAP to intensify their research efforts at finding solutions to the problem of environmental degradation. This is while pointing out that there are over 200 active gullies and other environmental challenges in the state.
It is also worthy to recall that some of the remedial activities been carried out by NEWMAP in the state include those at some sites at the Gombe State University. Thankful for the role of NEWMAP, the leader of the team of academic experts stressed that the Department of Geography in Gombe State University has a lot to offer to improve the environment. This is while encouraging staff of the project to enroll in the Post Graduate Diploma Programme of the University.