Environment, Featured
Ecological problems persist in South East Nigeria as erosion threatens to wipe out communities and render major roads unpassable
By Anayo Ezugwu
Unless something urgent happens there is the likelihood that some parts of south east Nigeria may be cut off from the rest of the society. This is as a result of the gully erosion that is fast spreading all-over the region. With the rainy season at its peak, landscapes are being ravaged in most parts the region with porous soil formations.
For instance, Enugu State is dotted with numerous erosion sites. Prominent among them, which residents and commuters are calling on governments at all levels for intervention, is the Enugu–Onitsha expressway. Travelling the short distance between Enugu and 9th Mile is a nightmare, not just because of the road that is impassable but for the fear of skidding into the deep gullies that have chopped off major portions of the road.
At Ugwu Onyeama, a section of the road with undulating hill formation where coal was mined, is almost cut-off with more than 60 percent of one lane barricaded to avert tragedy occurring there. An alternative route to avoiding Ugwu Onyeama, which is the Milikin Hill-Ngwo Road, is also being threatened by the same erosion despite the recent rehabilitation of the colonial road by Enugu State government.
This development has worsened the dilapidated Ugwu Onyeama – Enugu end of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway as motorists and other road users now wade through the narrow portion yet to be eaten up by erosion on one lane of the road. Long barricades were placed around the deep gullies to prevent vehicles from skidding into the gully that has created a yawning gap on the road.
The narrative is the same across the South East. From Enugu to Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi and Abia states, gully erosion has cut off or washed away roads, destroyed farmlands, pulled down houses and sent residents fleeing their homes.
In Anambra, several communities are being ravaged by erosion. For example, a section of Uke Road in the state is under threat of erosion. Chukwuka Ezenwune, a member of the Anambra State House of Assembly, who raised the alarm, called for urgent government intervention to avoid disaster. He said the call became imperative to prevent loss of lives and property along the road linking Nkpor, Nnobi, Nnewi, Ekwulobia, Awka-Etiti towns and other communities in Anambra and Imo.
“This road is one of the busiest roads in the state. Infact, it is a by-pass to other communities in Anambra and Imo. At this point, I don’t advise any articulated vehicle to use this road because it has already caved into the second lane for incoming vehicles.
“If urgent action is not taken, the erosion will bring untold hardship not only to the people of Idemili North and South Constituency, but to the entire people of the state. I am using this medium to send save our soul to the state and federal governments to save the road and avoid unnecessary deaths,” he said.
At the same time, the Federal High Court, Awka, is under serious gully erosion threat and on the verge of imminent collapse. Reports showed that parts of the property had already caved into the gaping gully. Some of the parts that have been lost to erosion include the perimeter fence, generator house, the original site for electricity and tarred road leading to Judges’ Quarters. Others are the Boys Quarters for servants and house helps in the Judges’ Quarters, the water supply borehole and the part of the entrance to the court complex.
Blessing Egbuche, a staff of the court, told New Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that they no longer felt safe working under the prevailing circumstance. She said no part of the complex is safe now as each rainfall reduces the integrity of the buildings which already had visible cracks due to underground vibrations.
She said electricity and water supplies were no longer available as they could no longer use the borehole and the transformer had been dismantled. Egbuche said they had cried to the Anambra State government and the Nigeria Erosion Watershed Management Project and had not received any assistance after they had visited severally.
As if the concerns are not worrisome enough, the World Igbo Environmental Foundation, WIEF, has said that there are more than 2,800 active erosion sites in the region. Odili Ojukwu, chairman of the foundation, in an interview on Wednesday, July 4, said erosion is threatening to sack many communities in the region from their ancestral lands.
Ojukwu advocated community participation in the management and protection of the environment from erosion. He blamed the prevalence of gully erosion on faulty road construction and drainage systems, adding that people must ensure that development activities in their areas do not result to erosion.
“We tried to establish the causes of erosion and gully issues within the South-East and South-South regions; these are the area’s most exposed to erosion. As we speak, in Anambra alone, there are over 1000 active erosion sites, in Imo there are about 300, Abia, 500, Enugu, 500 and Ebonyi, 500. So, if you aggregate it, you will discover that the entire region is at risk of losing its ancestral land.
“WIEF is saying that every community has the right to protect their environment; nobody should come into your land to destroy it unless you allow them. Communities need to take ownership of their environment; that is what will enable them see potential erosion and check it to prevent them from becoming gullies. Climate change is also a factor but that is after all the anthropogenic issues have been taken care of, that is; all human effect on vegetation must be limited,” he said.
Ojukwu called for a holistic approach to addressing the erosion menace. He said government at various levels had not done enough to check erosion as the institutions and policies that guarantee sustainable environment were non-functional or lacking. “Historically, governments have not been able to do much to ensure environmental sustainability; this is also made worse by the I-don’t-care attitude of the people.
“Our institutions do not work. That is why there are no technocrats who act on issues of environment on constant basis. Gullies do not begin overnight. There are processes leading to them and they can be stopped with minimal effort at the community level.”
Even the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, NEWMAP, a partnership project between Enugu state and World Bank, confirmed that the region required urgent attention. Egechukwu Obetta, Enugu coordinator of the agency, said that despite the protocol involved before its intervention, the agency has done much work in the state and named sites like Ajali water works erosion site, Udi-Ozalla, Imiliki, Onuiyi Nsukka and Ohom Orba Erosion sites as receiving attention.
Obetta said they have barricaded the dangerous areas on the Enugu-Onitsha highway at Ekulu Bridge behind 82 Division to avert tragedy, adding that they would commence remedial action on how to attract attention to the sites. He stated that Enugu State government has paid over N200 million counterpart funds to enable the state source World Bank NEWMAP facility to combat further degradation in the state.
He disclosed that because of the counterpart fund it paid, the state was able to commence work at Umuavulu-Abor erosion site among other sites it has been working on. Obetta also hinted about four fingers of heavy gullies in Ngwo community, noting that an edifice is about being submerged at Amauzam-Ngwo.
– Aug. 24, 2018 @ 18:59 GMT |
Tags: Erosion Threatens to Wipe Out South East Nigeria
