South-East: Erosion continues to wash dreams away

The stretch of road leading to the palace of the Igwe of Ibeagwa-Nike Community in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, His Royal Highness, Emmanuel Ugwu, is a little more than 100 metres. However, the road is so badly affected by erosion that not many would believe that it leads to the palace […]

The stretch of road leading to the palace of the Igwe of Ibeagwa-Nike Community in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, His Royal Highness, Emmanuel Ugwu, is a little more than 100 metres. However, the road is so badly affected by erosion that not many would believe that it leads to the palace of a traditional ruler.  

A member of the Igwe’s cabinet, Chief Livinus Ikpa, said the effect of erosion on the road began in 2003. 

“If you come here again August ending, you may not see the sand again because then erosion would have washed it away,” Chief Ikpa said. 

He stressed that due to the erosion, visitors to the palace sometimes had to park their vehicles in the premises of the town hall and walk down.

Similar scenario plays out on the untarred road leading to the palace of the Patron of the Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council, His Royal Highness, Igwe Simeon Osisi Itodo, Ezeoha 1 of Essodo Kingdom in Igboeze-North local Government Area of Enugu State.

Whenever it rains heavily, the road becomes inaccessible, said Igwe Itodo. The royal father regretted that even during the dry season, he suffered alongside his subjects because to pass through the road was difficult.

The traditional rulers said in both communities, the people resorted to self-help since there was none coming from the state or local government authorities.

Member of the Ibeagwa-Nike community claimed they spent about N5, 950,000 on the road since 2003 when the problem started, and that whenever they wanted to celebrate the new yam festival they taxed themselves to repair the road.  

Igwe Ugwu said: “We spend at least N350,000 annually to fix the road so that it will be accessible to both natives and guests during new yam ceremonies.”

In a similar way, Chief Ikpa told Daily Trust: “Since 2003 we began to experience this problem on this road. After grading it in August every year when we want to celebrate the new yam festival, the rains will come and wash away all our efforts.” He added as a way out of the problem, “Building a big and deep gutter will help to check the erosion.”

 Mrs. Ifeoma Ozo’s shop, which is made of sheets of zinc and planks, is located in an erosion-prone axis. She narrates her experience thus: “When it rains heavily, vehicles usually splash mud on my wares. Customers complain when they want to buy from me.” 

She added: “There was a day my sister lost all her corn packed in a wheelbarrow to the erosion. Even the plates, and in fact, all the content of the wheelbarrow were lost. It was raining and she was pushing her wheelbarrow full of her wares. She lost balance and fell down with her wheelbarrow and everything inside it was gone. That is one of the ways the erosion affects our businesses,” she said.

In the case of Essodo Kingdom, the royal father called on Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to come and rescue the community.

Igwe Itodo who made the call in an interview with Daily Trust in his palace, said people of the area had suffered a lot because of the erosion which could be checked by fixing the road. He said the capacity to check the erosion was far beyond the community and the Igboeze-North Local Government Authority.  

 “I have tried my best. When you were coming, you must have seen how the youths dug out sand and other things to make the road accessible. But the problem of that road is above their capacity. After doing that some of them fell sick, and I told them to stop because they could die while trying to fix the road. I used my tipper and tried to tackle the problem but it was not easy,” he said. 

An official of Enugu East Local Government Area said the council was yet to receive any complaint about the road leading to Igwe Ugwu’s palace. He assured that the council would not relent in repairing the road and controlling the erosion if contacted officially because, “We follow due process in doing things here.”

At the Ministry of Works, an official said: “The government has just changed commissioners. We don’t know who is where and who is who. But we can tell you certainly that the government is not sleeping over matters like erosion or flooding once the information gets to our office.”  

Umuahia too

With just a little rains so far this year, many parts of Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State are already under threat of gully erosion which has become a common feature in many communities in the area. 

 Like most communities with similar environmental challenge, the gully by all indications, is far beyond the scope and capacity of the community to control. Community and individual efforts in the past at checking the menace seemed like a drop of water in the ocean.

Chief Dr. Dike Egwu Omaefi, an indigene of the community whose house is on the verge of being swept away, said all efforts, including planting of Indian bamboo and other trees had not helped. He said he used concrete pillars and embankment to support the house and prevent the erosion from sweeping it away.

Mr. Chukwudi Ukpabi lamented the near total neglect by government. He said the community had learnt to live with the gully. 

“Until recently, when the state awarded the contract for the construction of the only road linking the community, there was no government presence in the community. They only come to us during election campaigns,” he said.

Ukpabi said the gully swept away the primary school he attended, Ohaeke Central School, thereby forcing its relocation.

Previous efforts by government at checking erosion either by agencies of government or through contract have not taken the community into consideration. The Ecological Fund allocated to states with such challenges has not benefited the community either. 

 The people appealed to the federal and Abia State governments through their agencies to come to their rescue now than to wait for disaster and come later with truck loads of relief materials.

…Same in Abakaliki

Ebonyi State is one of the states in the South East that is ravaged by gully erosion which is widespread in some communities of the 13 local government areas.

Worst hit among the local government areas are those in the southern part of the state which have boundaries with Abia and Enugu including Afikpo North, Ohanzara and Afikpo South, while other local governments like Abakaliki, Izzi, Ikwo, Ebonyi and Ohaukwu suffer mostly from flood which washes away crops and submerges houses.

Daily Trust gathered that the reason is traceable to the difference in topography and soils of cities in the southern part of the state and those in the northern and central parts.

For instance, Abakaliki, Izzi, Ikwo, Ebonyi and Ohaukwu enjoy plain topography hence has less erosion than Afikpo North and South which are on valley/hilly setting.

Among the eight local government areas where erosion has wreaked havoc is Afikpo South, which has over 21 identified erosion sites.

Our correspondent gathered that the erosion at Nzuzu-Edda in Afikpo South Local Government Area headquarters has submerged three buildings, including the administrative block of the council which houses the office of the chairman and that has also destroyed farmlands, economic trees, buildings, roads and bridges.

The Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Donatus Njoku, said: “Governor David Umahi has graciously approved about N250m to arrest some erosion in the state, especially that of Nzuzu Edda, through the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP).

“And we are advising the people to stop building along waterways, stop disposing refuse into rivers and stop cutting down trees because these are the major reasons the state is experiencing flood and erosion in some parts,” he said.

Also, Hon. Eni Uduma Chima, the Chairman of Afikpo South, who said over 15 erosion sites had been identified by the ecological fund office in some communities in his area, added that effort to address the erosion had been put in place by the state.

“What the erosion has caused to my area cannot be quantified, but if you ask me I will say it is worth billions of naira because roads, bridges, houses; for instance the headquarters that is now under threat by erosion, farmlands and economic trees are affected,” he said.

Efforts made to reach Dr. Philip Echigu, the head of NEWMAP in Ebonyi State to speak on the allegation that no meaningful development had been put in place by the agency to arrest erosion proved abortive.

…Federal Secretariat, court threaned in Anambra 

The Federal High Court, Awka, as well as the ongoing multi-million naira Federal Secretariat complex are currently under threat of gully erosion.

The tarred road to the state secretariat through Ekwueme Square is also endangered.

The state, which is one of the states benefiting from NEWMAP intervention, recently got World Bank approval to commence intervention works at four sites including Umuoji, Ogidi, Enugwu-Ukwu and Nkpor.

Speaking with Daily Trust, a farmer in the area who expressed worry that a good portion of her farmland had been washed away, lamented that the whole farm might be eroded before the rains stop.

A civil servant, Chibuike Onyeama, said, “How can the Ministry of Environment sit back and watch institutional buildings being eroded. This is a disaster in the waiting; the road from Ekwueme Square to the secretariat is breaking down, across the road is the Federal Secretariat building, and beside this is the Federal High Court.

“The old state secretariat is already being washed off and these electric poles are just waiting for time to fall into the gully,” he said.

When contacted, the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Ifeanyi Ejikeme, said the situation was being handled within the limit of the resources available to the state.

Ejikeme, who is also the Head of the Nigerian Erosion Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) Steering Committee in the state, said the site had been included in the list of NEWMAP approved projects.

Meanwhile, the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has asked those living in riverine communities and other flood-prone areas to be on the alert in preparation for impending flood.

The executive Secretary of the agency, Chief Paul Odenigbo, who gave the warning in Awka, the state capital, said the call was necessitated by the earlier warning of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency that the state was among eight states likely to be affected by floods. 

Odenigbo further hinted that his agency will soon embark on a sensitisation tour of the flood-prone areas to mobilise people for evacuation to safe areas, advising those who might be adversely affected to take advantage of the 28 Internally Displaced Persons camps in the state.

A representative of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Emmanuel Okafor, assured that the ministry would rise to the challenge of the impending flood with professional advice and physical attention to likely victims.

Meanwhile, a middle-aged widow has raised alarm over the near collapse of her three-storey building currently being threatened by erosion in Obosi in Idemili North Local Government Area

The building, located along John Nwadiogbu Street Enekwasimpu, is on the verge of being submerged by flood which has washed away some parts.

She said the situation was worsened by the construction of a flyover at the New Motor Spare Parts Market at Nkpor, which resulted in the flood from Nkpor and Ogidi being channeled to the area.