Community ravaged by gully erosion, begs Anambra govt. for intervention

Enugwu-Ukwu Community in Njikoka Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State, threatened by gully erosion, has called for assistance from the government and wealthy individuals.

Chief Christopher Onyekwue, a Community Leader, said he has appealed to the Anambra Government to pay urgent attention to the erosion menace in the community.

Onyekwue told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday that, although he has made several attempts to draw the attention of the state government to the issue, there has been no response till date.

“I have, through the State Ministry of Environment, sent in documents with pictures to back my claims on the erosion menace, but nothing has happened,” he said.

He said that the deep level of the gully erosion in the villages has affected the entire community negatively.

“For many years, this erosion gullies house very dangerous reptiles and animals and has continued to be a problem for our people.

“The erosion has destroyed our farmlands and available lands for residential purposes of our people. We are incurring losses as a result.

“We call on our dear governor, Prof Charles Soludo, to save us from possible extinction,” he said.

Onyekwue disclosed that “Every rainfall has a speed impact on the gully due to lack of attention and erosion control internal mechanism.”

In a swift reaction, Mr Felix Odumegwu, the Anambra Commissioner for Environment, acknowledged the claims and assured that the government would soon intervene.

Odumegwu said that the government is aware of the  erosion sites in Enugwu-Ukwu community and in over 160 other communities of the state.

He said that Anambra as a state has over 1,000 erosion sites and due to paucity of funds, the government was dealing with the menace gradually.

The commissioner said that government was determined to mitigate all the erosion problems but since “erosion control requires huge funds, we have informed the Federal Government.

“We explained the need to increase the ecological funds of the state to the Federal Government,” saying “if we get financial assistance from the European union, through the Anambra government, most erosion sites in the state will be handled.

“The government has done Nnobi-Umuoji erosion site, Onitsha-Owerri road, Ebenator, Ekwulobia, Ihiala axis, Nibo axis amongst others.

“I want to assure all the communities facing erosion menace that Soludo is not sleeping, once there are ecological funds, attention would be given to them,” Odumegwu said.

The commissioner disclosed that all community president-generals in the state have been asked to highlight the menace in documents to the governor.

He urged all the people of the state to also take ownership of their communities to checkmate erosion problems on time.