UGA, the sleepy community in Aguata local government area of Anambra State is in dire need of assistance from both the federal and state government to fight the gully erosion that is devastating the area. At the last count, no fewer that 10 houses had been swallowed by the gully since the beginning of the present rainy season.

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC has expressed its readiness to work with the Nigerian Society of Engineers as a key stakeholder in the execution of its mandate.

A non-governmental organisation working on the environment, Messrs International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development, ICEED, has called on the Federal Government to establish a National Cooking Energy Programme. The call was necessitated by the fact that about 95, 300 Nigerians die every year from smoke coming from firewood use.

Building materials constitute a key element in housing construction. In fact, building materials account for between 60 – 80 percent of the entire cost of housing construction. This means that access to decent accommodation in Nigeria will continue to be elusive until the scarcity and prohibitive cost of conventional building materials and components are checked.

Minister of Environment, Mrs. Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia says the Federal Government will partner with relevant organisations to check the problems of land degradation, desertification, food insecurity and impoverishment of communities in the dry land regions of Nigeria.

Alarmed by the high rate of corruption in the procurement of housing projects in Nigeria and the false or unverifiable assets declarations made by political office holders, the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, NIESV, has initiated moves to partner with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, to stem the prevalence of corrupt practices in real estate transactions.

In its avowed commitment to promote best practices that will enhance and support government’s drive to attract infrastructure to the state, Lagos State Government has begun talks with a Canadian firm, Messrs SNC Lavalin ( PTY) Ltd to explore and determine areas of possible partnership.

The Quantity Surveyor Registration Board of Nigerian, QSRBN, has called for collaboration between the Federal Government and stakeholders in the Construction and Building sector of the economy in order to facilitate massive investments in the sector to enable it make decent contributions towards achieving the policy.

Driving through Eric Moore Road in the night, one would be tempted to think “this is Europe or the United States or any of the developed nations”. This is because of the massive upgrade of the physical infrastructure in the area.

Speaking, recently, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20) to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nigeria’s president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan referred to the conference as historic both for humanity and the planet.