Auchi gully like earthquake scene

Everything has changed. Landlords have now become tenants. The axis of erosion is a strange place to live in. She laments, “I have no other property. If the flood wants to take my house away, then I am prepared to go with it. Let it come. I am ready”. She is quite blunt this afternoon […]

Everything has changed. Landlords have now become tenants. The axis of erosion is a strange place to live in. She laments, “I have no other property. If the flood wants to take my house away, then I am prepared to go with it. Let it come. I am ready”. She is quite blunt this afternoon as we stand by the yawning gully awed by its sheer size. Mrs Kassim Momoh also lives by the edge of the gully with her children. Her husband is late. She says she won’t leave her house.

“We have nowhere to go, so we’ll remain here.” Her husband died of hypertension resulting from unspeakable fears over the approaching gully. There is a long list of many who developed hypertension or had strokes when they lost their houses to the gully. Ahmed Bameyi of Auchi Polytechnic has spent considerable time through the years mobilising the various age grades within Auchi to tackle the erosion menace.

Salisu Ahmed, a civil engineer, tells this reporter that people in Auchi need some reorientation in terms of building practices in the sense that people should not build along the path of flood waters. The unbridled excavation of earth should also be minimised, he explains, and advocates for environmental-friendly habits. According to him, some work was done in the 1990s to arrest the erosion, but with the passage of time, “several kilometres of concrete-lined drains have been washed off”.

Gaz Momoh, the Daudu of Oluedide village says that community efforts put at five million naira have been of some use in checking erosion. He shows Weekly Trust a drainage which construction he sponsored and says that most lands just by the gully are sold at giveaway prices since the value has dropped. He adds that many of the landlords have died as a consequence of the frustrating situation. He explains that the volume of water that flows through Egbeadokhai Street during rainy season is much such that it can easily carry ten trailers away.

In this part of town, sleep vanishes during the rainy season, for people keep awake to evacuate water from their houses and to listen well for it may be necessary to flee if a nearby house is collapsing. Here, people are ready to run 24/7. Fences are built high to protect houses from the floodwaters. So the people joyfully imprison themselves from the flow of water.

Alhaji Aliru H. Momoh, the Otaru of Auchi, who once led his people on a mass protest over the erosion menace, would be happy if the government would award the contract for the erosion project to a major construction firm like Julius Berger, which has a long history of success in similar endeavours, instead of the sea of companies that have visited Auchi over the years. He would also like the EFCC to investigate a few of the companies that have worked at Auchi.

A source at the Benin-Owena Basin Authority says that the answer to the erosion problem at Auchi is a simple one: The Federal Government should simply release the necessary monies in bulk through the Ecological Fund to tackle the erosion matter once and for all. The contract should not be given out piecemeal. Daz Momoh tells this reporter that some politicians have taken advantage of the erosion menace by turning it into a campaign weapon during elections.

He says those politicians have not delivered and will be asked questions by the electorate if they choose to contest again. Everyday, the gully expands and grows deeper. It stretches as far as the eye can see, quietly and gently changing the character of the landscape. In some places, it can easily take the whole of three-storey buildings, and over the years, more than 100 houses have been lost to the gully. People sell various items by the edge of the gully, cracking jokes and smiling as they do. A smiling boy passes by the edge seemingly oblivious of danger. We are truly the ‘happiest people on earth’.

Chief Imam’s prayer

The gully has chewed into the Benin-Auchi road and is threatening the house of Professor Zakariyau Oseni, the scholarly Chief Imam and Waziri of Auchi in another part of the town. He says that he was alarmed when he noticed the gully drawing close to his house. He adds, “I prayed and I think it’s just divine favour, because it seems that after I prayed, the gully actually avoided my house”. Many mosques, churches and dwellings have been abandoned because of the hungry gully, which consumes all that lies in its path.

The gully is no respecter of faiths or persons or ethnic groups. It may soon split the town into two, just as it is encroaching upon the General Hospital. 19 roads have been divided by the gully, just as some dwellings have been neatly cut into by it. Some parts of town look run down because the inhabitants have left, but for a few who have found the abnormal courage to remain. Many houses have been turned into islands because the homes have been perfectly encircled by the gully, meaning that there is no way out for the family.

This reporter came across one of such ‘islands’ recently in Auchi. The house is neatly ringed by the gully. The owners left when it was still possible and sensible to make an exit. One-fifth of the population of Auchi have had to migrate from the town because of the effects of the gully. They headed for neighbouring communities like Aviele, Aibotse, Iyekhei, South-Ibie and Jattu. Some roads too have completely vanished having been practically buried.

For instance, the major road to Ivbiaro which used to be quite busy is now no more having been destroyed by the gully. Zakawanu Garba, the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, says if the erosion menace is not taken seriously by government, it may prove to be worse than the Niger Delta crises in the long term. The gully buries all it comes across resembling a large moving red tomb in its effect. Popular playing fields much loved by children and teenagers have vanished too.

In 1912, D. H. Momoh (Momoh the first), the patriarch of the Momoh family of Auchi, initiated a religious revolution which marked a turning point in his people’s spiritual development. This is because he brought the knowledge of Islam to his people. About a hundred years later, it is once more time for the Momohs and the entire community to raise their heads and act in a decisive way, just as their illustrious forebear did a hundred years ago.

At that time Momoh 1 felt strongly that it was both urgent and inevitable to raise his people from the veneration of shrines and the adoration of gods. Today, tackling the erosion scourge which requires nine billion naira is urgent, sensible and necessary. Do great events occur in Auchi every one hundred years? Only time will tell if this is so.

A total of N646 million

The locals informed our reporter that in 1998, a contract was awarded to Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company covering 23 roads in Auchi, but the effort was frustrated by the abolition of Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF by the Obasanjo administration when it assumed office in 1999. They also said that Verallen Nigeria Limited was the next contractor to turn up at Auchi. He was given N246 million to widen and deepen existing culverts on the Jattu-Auchi road through to River Omemi to the north.

Some say that the work executed for this project by the contractor certainly couldn’t have cost more than 15 million naira. The   Otaru adds, “At the end of the day, they did not do one quarter of what they were supposed to do, and what they did is so poor. We by ourselves would have done twice better than what they did. This was last year and no work is going on there now”. The second project given to Verallen classified as tributaries to the main gully erosion, was valued at more than N400 million. This means that Verallen alone received a total of N646 million.

‘No, it’s N447 million!’

Engineer Allen Egbe, the Chairman of Verallen Nigeria Limited reacts by clearing the air on the sum awarded for the contract. His words “Whereas this job was awarded for the sum of N447 million, you have to remove 10%, which is VAT and tax. There is another two and a half percent which is for administrative charges. Then the consultants’ bill is built into it.

“At the end of the day, the actual cost of the job is just about N314 million. Out of that amount, the total money we have got so far is N200 million plus. The contract sum provided when we tendered for it was N2.4 billion. But during the era of Obasanjo, he stated clearly that only the amount allocated in the budget could be allocated immediately.

At that time, they did not have enough money in the budget for the job. They now said that most houses were already falling into the gully itself, so we should first of all start by protecting those buildings from falling in, and at the same time see the possibility of stopping further damage by erosion. The president told them that they should ensure that more money is provided in the budget the following year, but this was not to be”.

Allen Egbe says that his company actually did protect houses from falling into the gully and took steps to check further erosion. They did reclamation work in the main gully between 2007 and 2008. The Benin-Owena Basin Authority also says that the sum allocated for the Verallen project at Auchi is N447 million instead of a total of N2.2 billion earlier fixed by the consultant for the work. The authority adds that the Federal Government has not released enough monies to tackle the project at once, and says that this is the real challenge to tackling the erosion menace in Auchi.

Weekly Trust was carefully guided around Auchi by people who are familiar with the story of erosion in the town. There was little sign of work done to justify these hefty sums of money initially awarded. Many townspeople told this reporter that Verallen does not have the equipment to do the work. They say that more often than not, his equipment are at the mechanics for repairs. He also lacks the basic expertise for the work, they add.

On allegations that he lacks the right equipment for the job, Allen Egbe says, “I have equipment, and right now, I actually rent out equipment to contractors in the Auchi area. In 1997, I spent over 200 million naira on equipment. In 2003, I reinvigorated my equipment with another 150 million naira. I have offices in eleven states and I did the major drainage works made up of three phases in Kebbi, the capital of Kebbi State. I have spent more than 40 years working in this field.”

He says the next bit of work done was in the part of the gully known as the fingerlings. They worked from the back of the General Hospital passing through Egbeadokhai, Inu Umoru, Obe Audu Momoh, Union Bank, finally reaching the abbatoir. According to Allen Egbe, all this work was done between the years 2007 and 2008 and he stresses that evidence exists showing that the work was done.

Millions  down the drain

At a point, the Edo State government realising the gravity of the erosion menace, called for World Bank assistance. In March 2007, the World Bank advertised projects for the bidding. Later, it was gathered from media reports that the World Bank had released 20 million dollars to tackle the erosion menace in Edo State. The report held that the government of former Governor Osunbor of Edo state spent nine million naira out of this amount to tackle the erosion menace.

The people of Auchi say no work has been done to justify this claim. They feel that this entire matter should be thoroughly investigated. The Otaru of Auchi tells Weekly Trust, “We are at a loss as to where and who spent the $9 million of the two projects earmarked by the World Bank. Auchi takes more than 80 percent of the project cost, and we are therefore most surprised that about 50 percent of the underwriting sum by the World Bank is already released and allegedly spent without a dollar reaching the major project that is eating up lives and properties with the speed of lightning”.

Another N2.7 billion lost

The Commissioner for Environment in Edo State mentioned lately that 2.7  billion naira was spent in 2009 on the erosion challenge in Auchi. The people of Auchi are alarmed at this statement, for no work has been done, according to them. This reporter went round but could not see signs of fresh work done in 2009. The Otaru says again, “This is not true. No work has been done at the erosion site here in Auchi. You have already seen the massive devastation all around, which is getting worse everyday.

“We are urging the Federal Government to re-award the contract before the next rains come and to declare Auchi a disaster area. If there is nothing done this season, gully erosion will bulldoze everything and get to the expressway. We have a situation where even the Chief Imam’s property is under threat and many people have been carried away by the erosion”. He says that the EFCC should take a look at the companies and groups which claim to have tackled the erosion in Auchi.

His words, “Apart from re-awarding the contract to a new competent contractor, we feel that a panel should be set up to investigate the contactors and also recover monies for government. The EFCC should be empowered to go and dig out all that exists relating to Auchi erosion, because the government has just lost money without anything to show for it and people have suffered and lost lives and properties. We are concerned that all those contractors should be brought to book.”

He says that the Owena Basin Authority is at “the forefront of bringing people who cannot do jobs to go and do them. My appeal to government is that Verallen should not be given the job. He doesn’t have any property or equipment. I wrote to the Benin Owena Basin Auhority to confirm that this company has no equipment, they wrote back to say that the company has equipment. But the equipment we saw here are obsolete. He was hiring some from here and there, and most were at mechanic shops.”

When Weekly Trust contacted the Benin-Owena Basin Authority by telephone from Abuja, he was told that the authority will not link incompetent contractors with any project. The respondent who declined giving his name added that the process of giving out a contract is a protracted and thorough one, which finally reaches both the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) as well as the Ecological Fund offices. The project is also advertised in newspapers. His conclusion is that it is impossible for Benin-Owena to present incompetent contractors for any project.

Verallen in Auchi

Allen Egbe explains his own side of the story showing the frustrating part of the whole project. His words, “We did a design for the Auchi erosion project in 2004. The process of awarding the job, which includes due process, took a while. It was finally awarded in 2007. By the time we got to the site, the design that was done in 2004 had been made nonsense of on account of the constant erosion. They now said protect these buildings that are almost caving in and we will make sure that there is enough money next year. We are talking of 2010 now, and there is still no kobo for it. Even the work we did then, we are still battling for the payment now.”

He speaks on the nature of the actual work Verallen carried out in Auchi. “We did work in the main gully itself and the evidence is abundant showing the reclamation of parts of the main gully. Over the last two years, the rains have damaged the bulk of the work done. We did lateritic filling, that is, we got to the bottom of the gully, used some rocks to bed it and poured laterite on top of it.

“Now, the next stage which we were supposed to enter now we were to use Gabions, which is a kind of net to trap the materials already poured into the gully. Since 2006, we kept writing to government to release our monies to enable us bring the Gabions. The Gabions arrived in the country last year and there is no money to even go and collect them. All of these things are part of the frustrations.”

He says government is owing his company 106 million naira for work done in Auchi. He adds, “When I got to Auchi in 2005 and saw how bad the situation was, I moved to the site without collecting one naira as mobilisation fee. It took me almost eight months to get that money.

“It’s there on the records when they were handing over the site to me that I opted to move to the site without even collecting mobilisation. This is a job that ordinarily should not exceed one year. To even get a cheque out is taking more than a year”.

A simple thing

Explaining the erosion menace, Gaz Momoh says that Auchi sits in a valley and waters naturally surge into this valley which has a characteristic soft soil. Professor Zakariyau Oseni adds, “Auchi sits in a valley with some hills. When the rain falls, all the water in Etsako flows to Auchi which lies at the very centre of Afemai.” Allen Egbe also explains, “Auchi is like the bed of a valley. If you are going on the Abuja highway, South-Ibie is up and Auchi is down. If you look at the other side, Igarra is up and Auchi is down. Auchi is merely a receptor. If you drop water in Igarra, it flows down to Auchi.”

He shows how the erosion menace can be tackled given the fact that Auchi sits in a basin. According to him, “Being that this place is a basin, first and foremost, you have to isolate the gully and create drainage by the edge of that very road powerful enough to take the storm water that is cascading from South-Ibie. When you create a drainage right through Auchi town, it means that all storm water will be trapped by that drainage, and they will be given a road or pathway to follow out of the town. We prepared all these plans, but the government did not provide money”.

Salisu Ahmed opines on the same matter, “First and foremost, we should arrest the present unbridled erosion. There are known troughs and valleys here; or we need to have proper concrete-lined drains. We need a network of interconnecting drains which will flow out through the site”.

Gaz Momoh adds, “If nothing is quickly done, a great percentage of the population will be swept away by the coming rains.” He adds that the community is making efforts to arrest the situation. According to him, work was done by Nigercat in Auchi during the days of General Ibrahim Babangida to tackle a major part of the erosion. His words, “Work was done by Nigercat and it is still strong. The tributaries of the gully are devastating the whole area. If the job is given to Nigercat, Setraco or Julius Berger, they would have tackled the Auchi erosion matter long ago”.

It is early February. The rains are drawing close, just as the gully is getting nearer too.