Anambra: ‘Light of the nation’ eclipsed by 500 active gullies
Anambra state is fondly referred to as the ‘Light of the nation ‘. As a state which has produced great writers, such as Chimamanda Adichie, and Chinua Achebe, formidable economists such as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for instance, and even Alex Ekwueme,a former Vice President, it easily deserves this description. These are leading lights in their chosen […]
Anambra state is fondly referred to as the ‘Light of the nation ‘. As a state which has produced great writers, such as Chimamanda Adichie, and Chinua Achebe, formidable economists such as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for instance, and even Alex Ekwueme,a former Vice President, it easily deserves this description. These are leading lights in their chosen fields of activity. But the great ecological challenge confronting the state, stands like an eclipse, threatening to dim the radiant light. For instance, 50% of the land mass in the state, is threatened by flood and gully erosion hazards. Great forms of environmental degradation are present too. An example is the occurrence of blocked drainages which also facilitate the flooding of communities. Development, of any type, is, naturally, very difficult under these conditions. It is almost impossible. The biggest gullies in West Africa are to be found here. It’s a regional wonder. Even when work is being done to save the environment, the original massive size of the gully being worked on, is still visible to the observer. So the challenge at present is to halt the growing eclipse, and create space for the Light to shine, or for development to take place.
A place called Sacamori
Eclipse is vividly captured by the Sacamori drainage in Onitsha. This is the lowest part of the town, and all the waters from Okpoko and various sections of Onitsha converge on this point, and are discharged there from, or ought to be released from that point. The sad truth is that the drainage is blocked. So the waters simply accumulate in one spot. Filth multiplies, putrifies and rises like a pyramid, the still waters turn black or dull in colour, the very colour of an eclipse. Large pigs wade through the waters eating and grunting, and a powerful sick smell predominates. The smell rules the world of the drainage, governing both man and animal. It is a wonder that people can live here amidst such filth, which has formed heaps on both sides of the blocked drainage. It is like one of those unforgettable scenes in Peter Abraham’s Mine Boy or Marachera’s House of Hunger. The metaphor is a powerful one. Here people rejoice and live normal lives, within the greatest and most abnormal forms of filth, which are not always physical. We are indeed ‘the happiest people on earth.’ They dance, quarrel, eat, sing, prepare for SSCE, and recreate themselves in these squalid, ghetto-like conditions. But the people here quickly emerge from their dwellings when the group of visitors, which include Governor Peter Obi, and Mr. John Odey,the Minister of Environment, arrive.` Mr Michael Egbebike,the Anambra state Commissioner for Environment tells reporters at the scene ‘Sacamori is the lowest point in Onitsha. The reason Onitsha is flooded is on account of the blocked Sacamori which needs dredging, so that waters can flow out. We can save Onitsha if the place is dredged, and we are talking of billions of naira to achieve this. If we dredge Sacamori, the waters can now converge there, and they can be accommodated. We must keep all the drains open and desilted. Now it is blocked, because our people drop garbage within it.The minister of Environment has reiterated his commitment to immediately start to dredge the Sacamori. When this is done there will be a major uplift in the area. Sacamori is a very long stretch of drainage. It connects with the Nwangene, and traverses Onitsha. It is the major drainage that discharges into the Idemili River’.
Mr. John Odey in his comment at the spot said ‘Sacamori is not an erosion problem. It is manmade, through poor waste management. Anambra state is one of the seven cities we are using to handle waste management in the country. The federal Government has released 250 million naira for the management of waste and erosion problems.’In Sacamori, the drainage channel needs to be opened to allow the waters to flow out,leading to better living conditions for both man and animals. Also speaking on the Sacamori problem, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state says ‘The people contributed greatly to the situation. We have made them understand that they are the ones creating this problem.You cannot live and do your business in a dirty environment. Even for them, they are killing their business, because you cannot have people patronize you in a dirty environment. They are not animals and we will not allow them to live like animals’. He added that work is ongoing to make Onitsha a clean city. His words’I can tell you that Onitsha is cleaner than it was two weeks ago. We are trying everyday to clean it up. We have just launched for the first time in Nigeria, the flood and erosion control policy’.
Anambra’s 1,500 Gullies
Gully erosion is another face of the eclipse confronting the state today, and this affects every one of its 177 communities. According to the Commissioner for Environment ‘Gullies are formed every day, and every rainy season opens up a bunch of new gullies. Rains come down as a torrential downpour, and when that happens, the soil that is known to be very loose is washed away. The geology of the soil in Anambra lends itself to easy erodibility. The top soil is washed off easily. As it continues to wash off the top layer, it comes back again, and takes the bottom layer, until you have a string of washed off gullies, that develop gradually into big gullies.’ He says that there are 1,500 gullies in Anambra state, ‘They develop every day, as we are trying to document them, more and more are formed, and many of them are active. At least we can count 500 that are active.’ Every year the state dedicates millions of naira to the fight against gully erosion.
Last week this reporter went on a tour of communities facing threat of gully erosion in Anambra state. One of such locations was Ozubulu, where the large gully at a point threatened to split the main road into two. Work has been done at the site however, but more needs to be done to properly arrest the gully. Nnewichi was the next stop, where it was clear that the gully had threatened the community to the point that the people had vacated their houses to seek safety elsewhere. The journalists present during the tour were told that the land degradation menace in the South East is alarming, and requires both state and federal government intervention to be effectively checked. At Nnobi, government has to attend not only to the erosion menace proper, but to the people concerned who have to be rehabilitated, having vacated their threatened dwellings. Mr John Odey mentioned that he is impressed with the state governments’ intervention, and said he was in the state to look at projects in which the state and federal government could jointly intervene. The plan is to identify urgent sites in Anambra state which the federal government could begin to work at. In his response the Anambra state Governor mentioned that he is happy that the federal government is willing to collaborate with the Anambra state government on the menace of gully erosion, and said that the incidents of gully erosion in the state are the worst in the whole country. At Ekwulobia, the vast gully had once split the main road into two. There are a number of abandoned houses across the road .Also there is a long history of houses collapsing into the gully from time to time. Some nearby houses have been vacated by the inhabitants. An eleven storey building can easily fit into the gully at Ekwulobia, where work has already started to save the community from further havoc.
Miracles
But gully erosion in Anambra state has its own share of the miraculous. At Obosi, there is a gully erosion site for which N655 million has been fully paid by the federal government. But work has not started there. The Commissioner says ‘The Obosi erosion site was flagged as completed, and that the federal government has spent 655 million naira there. It turned out that when we took visitors to the Obosi site, three houses were about to fall into the gully. Work there has not been done.Infact the Obosi Girls Secondary School is at the verge of collapsing into the gully already, because the soil below is already beginning to yield’. There are some peculiar circumstances surrounding the gully projects in the state. The Commissioner for Environment says ‘Many of these projects have not been completed, and some of them have been shabbily done. Some of them have not even started. Also, to an extent the state government does not know about some sites which the federal government is working on. According to the Commissioner ‘so, it was one major disappointment with everybody, that the federal government can be doing a project in a state, and the state Commissioner for Environment knows nothing about it’.
No money
The Commissioner for environment explains Anambra’s peculiar plight in terms of finances. ‘The money we get from the oil allocation is not much, compared to the oil producing states, and our internally generated revenue is also very poor. The resources we have cannot really address this problem. The Governor has approached the World Bank, and the Bank is looking to help. Also MTN is trying to do a recycling facility here in Onitsha. UNDP is working with us in the area of Dioxin reduction. We have been cited as one of the states that encourages the reduction of Dioxin, a gas that emanates when objects are burnt. ‘Governor Peter Obi says ‘Gully erosion is a huge challenge for the Anambra state government, considering our resource base which is quite low. This is beyond our own control, and beyond our own resources. We are appealing to the federal government to intervene’. He explains that Anambra state has not received any monies from the Ecological Fund Office since 2007.
Human factors and gullies
Mr Michael Egbebike adds that a number of human factors also play a role in causing gully erosion across the state. His words ‘We can at least control our personal habits that exarcebate the problem. One of such is our developmental pattern, the way we develop our properties. It used to be that people dug deep wells in their properties, and they used it to harness the water for domestic purposes. The significance of the deep well is that it contains most of the flood from that part of the compound when it rains.But now look at what is happening, everybody finishes his compound with a concrete pavement, and pipes all his water onto the street. The drainages that are constructed are therefore overburdened every day. They converge on the streets, and destroy all that is in their path. When this huge water is coming down the streets, it terminates on the open sites, and it starts to dig, and the gullies start to form’. He also says that those who construct roads are also at fault, because they are in the habit of terminating drainages on open fields which are future erosion sites. He concludes ‘We need to change our thinking, and need to go through a process of reorientation. This is because if we don’t stop what we are doing, we are going to be swallowed up by this erosion. We have no other country.We have the desert trying to take us from the north, and erosion trying to take us from the south-east. We have no country to go to, so we must solve this problem.’
Other miracles
There are many amazing tales emerging from the state, showing the direct effects of gully erosion on the people. One is the story of a family which suddenly woke up late one night to find itself at the bottom of a gully. They somehow managed to climb out of the gully, and make their way to safety. Another account is that of a family which journeyed to a neighbouring community. When they were making the return journey home, the road had split. So they could not find the way home again. There are accounts of communities which have been completely cut off from the state by the widening gullies, with villages either split in two or vanishing altogether, and precious farmlands lost. Also, there is a tale of a traditional ruler who is preparing to leave his community. He and his people live in great fear, on account of the nearby gully, which is drawing closer and closer every day. For now there may be eclipse across the state, but truly light is not far off.