In Belgium’s southern region, the end of the year means a boom in business for one particular sector.

As the festive season begins, December is the time of year that the region’s annual crop of two million Christmas trees go for sale.

Sold wholesale, around 85% of the trees leave Belgium for other countries, making Belgium the second largest European exporter of Christmas trees after Denmark, according to the Walloon agency for the promotion of quality agriculture (Apaq-W).

But this is more than just a festive push for the season of goodwill. It’s big business, with the turnover for professional Christmas tree producers estimated at €35 million.

The sector comprises some 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs (about 450 direct and 550 indirect jobs) as activity extends over the whole year, from the cultivation of seeds in nurseries to their cutting.

The business has also come a long way in recent years, with producers moving towards increasingly eco-responsible and sometimes organic methods, the Apaq-W points out.

Producers affiliated to the Union Ardennaise des Pépiniéristes (UAP) have launched an eco-responsible charter to try to reduce their environmental impact. It aims to progressively reduce the use of herbicides, promote cutting rather than removing root balls, and using animals to clean the land.

“The production of Christmas trees in Belgium is mainly concentrated in Wallonia, specifically in the provinces of Luxembourg, Namur and Liège,” Apaq-W says. “Sites occupy 3,120 ha, of which about 80% is Nordmann fir, 10% common spruce, 5% Fraser fir, and 5% made up of other varieties.”

Zenith Bank has lit up Ajose Adeogun Street of the Victoria Island axis of Lagos State with its annual Christmas decoration as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility projects.

The lender said this in a statement on Sunday, titled, ‘Zenith Bank activates the spirit of Christmas with Ajose Adeogun Street light-up’

The official lighting programme was performed on Saturday by the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Zenith Bank Plc, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, who was supported by the lender’s executive management, while the bank’s staff and customers joined virtually.

Onyeagwu expressed his delight that this year’s light-up ceremony was able to hold following the cancellation of last year’s edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the EndSARS protests.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET), says it will introduce a Doppler weather system to monitor weather up to 400 kilometres.Prof. Mansur Bako, Director-General of the Agency, stated this at the presentation of a 3-year Multi-Scale Flooding Monitoring and Assessment Services for West Africa (MiFMASS), to reduce risks and mange flood disasters.The presentation of the service was done by the Centre for Space Science Technology and Education (CSSTE), Ile-Ife, an activity centre of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) in Abuja.The services were produced under the programme tagged: “Global Monitoring for Environmen and Security (GMES) and Africa,” It was a joint initiative of the African Union and the European Union Commission.It involves seven research institutions in Ghana, Benin Republic, Cote D’Ivore, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.The programme was targeted at providing Earth Observation (EO) based services on near real time basis to disaster management organisations and boosting their human capacity to adapt to the services.

The project monitoring committee in Ikot-Nkebre community in Calabar Municipality has appealed to the World Bank not to abandon their erosion work at the Agro-field and the community road that was destroyed while reclaiming the gully in the community.

Speaking to journalists in Calabar, Nigeria’s South-south Emmanuel Ewa, Secretary of the Ikot-Nkebre Community Association, thanked World Bank and the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) for their remediation works in the community.

Ewa maintained that all the communities in the area were united until the erosion came and divided them, making it impossible for someone to move from one community to the other.

“When the project was captured, the Agro Field community had no problem of erosion, but before NEWMAP finished drawing their plans and came to commence work, the continuous rains had devastated the area.

“What we are appealing for now is for the Agro Field community to be included in the plan for remediation work.

“This is because whatever is done in Ikot Nkebre, if the Agro Field section is not worked on, the same erosion will start from there and come back to the other communities apart from the huge division the gully has caused,” he said.

Similarly, Mr Bassey Effiong, a leader and resident of Ikot Nkebre community, said the remediation works carried out by World Bank was impressive but had not totally solved the problem of the communities.

“The road that connects all these communities had been wiped off by erosion and the remedial measures contracted to Akpaven Integrated Services and supervised by NEWMAP did not capture this challenge.

“It is just like World Bank has taken care of the erosion without caring about the interrelationship among these communities,” he noted.

In his remarks, Mr John Egu, another resident of the community said if the road connecting the communities in the area was reinstated, it will check further erosion and devastation of the area.

According to Egu, if it is left alone, the way it is at present, it means that something would have to be done later which might not be easy.

“Thess communities used to be like a single community, there was no division.

“It was only one road that linked all of them from the Murtala Muhammed Highway to the market, but that road has been washed away, leaving an impassable gully.

The Tribunal of Inquiry into the Collapse of the 21-Storey Building in Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, has called on construction stakeholders to submit memoranda on the incident.

The Chairman of the Tribunal, Mr Toyin Ayinde, made the call during a media briefing on Monday in Lagos, Nigeria’s South-west.

Ayinde said that the memoranda should be submitted at ”lagosgerrardtribunal@gmail.com” and all memoranda, recommendations and submissions should be received on or before Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021.

He said that the six-member tribunal began sitting immediately after its inauguration on Thursday, Nov. 4 and had received some documents from some government MDAs, which members had started studying.

According to him, the tribunal began formal interviews with witnesses on Tuesday, Nov. 16 in order to identify the roles played in the activities that led to the collapse of the building.

”The tribunal received the report from the consultants who conducted verticality tests on the remaining structures standing in the premises of the collapsed building. The results of the tests on the construction materials are still being awaited.

”The interviews conducted have been recorded for the purpose of record-keeping, and the Tribunal would meet as many as are willing to present credible and factual statements, with evidence(s), relating to the collapse.

”We have also interviewed some of the Lagos State Government staff in the relevant MDAs.

”We, however, appeal to members of the public, professional bodies and construction industry stakeholders, as well as individuals who have useful information and invite them to submit memoranda which have direct bearing on the particular issue being investigated, as well as their recommendations to prevent future occurrence,” he said.

Ayinde said that so far the activities of the tribunal had included setting up the secretariat and arranging logistics for the successful conduct of activities.

He said that the tribunal had visited the site of the collapse for a general assessment of the rescue operations, and to determine areas where expert consultants’ services would be required.

The chairman said that members of the tribunal also visited the General Hospital, Broad Street, to interview some of the survivors, who could offer some eyewitness accounts.

Ayinde said that the tribunal had listed more than 30 stakeholders relevant to the construction industry and the collapsed building, whose views, position papers and recommendations would be received and considered.

He said that those that the tribunal considered necessary to chat with would be invited.