The Anambra State government has said that the menace of heavy erosion in the state has become a thorn in its flesh. The state government said that gully erosion in the state is threatering the lives and property of thousands of indigenes and that the resources to combat it have gone beyond what state’s purse can handle.
Speaking on the havoc erosion has wreaked on the state, the Anambra State Commissioner for Works, Mr. Marcel Ifejiofor, disclosed that there were more than 1,000 active erosion sites scattered across the state.
While giving insight into government efforts at ameliorating the menace, Ifejiofor said the state Executive Council had recently inaugurated an Erosion Design Review Committee to tackle the problem. He said that findings by government had shown that most of the gully erosion sites were caused by wrong channeling of water.
The Works Commissioner, who regretted that some people in the state intentionally build on water channels, which result in blockage of water flow, warned people to desist from building along water channels so that water will have free flow. He noted that when the water settles, it burrows into the soil and melts soil compartment. “I want to visit Sakamori Drain linking water to Idemili River around Onitsha because I got a report that the drain was blocked,” he said.
Ifejiofor said the state government was worried about the rate at which some people in the state ignore advice on ways to check the menace of erosion, adding that wrong channeling of water causes damage on roads, a situation, which he said was costing government so much.
On frequent road accidents involving heavy duty vehicles in recent time in the state, Ifejiofor hinted that plans were on to construct bumps in some locations along some roads across the state.
He also said that the state would likely create special roads for heavy duty vehicles in the major towns, to check accidents.
Recently, the Nigerian Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) in Anambra State promised that the indigenes of Agulu, Oko and Nanka communities in the state whose properties and livelihood would be affected in the course of rehabilitation works on erosion sites would be properly resettled.
Consultant to NEWMAP, Dr. Odili Ojukwu, who gave the assurance at a stakeholders’ meeting held with representatives of the communities in Agulu, Anaocha Local Government Area, said the meeting themed, “Preparation of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, ESIA, and Resettlement Action, RAP,” in Orumba North Local Government Area will result to lasting solution.
Ojukwu also said the process of registering people with genuine claims was ongoing and enjoined the affected people to register, noting that the people that are expected to register are those whose properties, economic trees, farmlands and other valuables would be damaged when the civil works begin.