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From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Residents of the Umusiome Community, Nkpor, in Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State, are on the verge of being cut off from the rest of Anambra as the twin challenges of erosion and flooding have caused monumental damage to family houses, properties and also rendered some areas inaccessible.
The gullies in the area have stretched to the gate of Government Technical College (GTC), owned by the Anambra State government, and students inside the school are apprehensive of the devastating effects of the disaster, unless the government comes to their aid.
Following the ugly development, the Umusiome Landlords’ Association has appealed to Anambra State government to rescue them from the flood menace, which they said has caused severe gully erosion threatening their lives and properties.
They invited the Anambra State Commissioner for Works, Arc Okey Ezeobi, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Environment, Dr. Clem Aguiyi, to inspect the flood-ravaged Ogbeudo road and the gully erosion site within the Government Technical College compound, Nkpor.
The trio of the chairman, Umusiome Central Landlords Association, Chief Daniel Alaneme, organising committee chairman for the inspection, Remy Ozoemena Nwachi, and the president-general, Nkpor, Chief Godwin Amadike, pleaded with the commissioners to use their good offices to checkmate the flooding/erosion site and reconstruct the Ogbeudo/GTC/Ogidi roads.
They said Umusiome residents and landlords within the area had invested millions of naira through self-help, trying to control the flood current coming down the Ogbeudo road, which leads to Ogidi and Abatete, but the roads have deteriorated beyond their reach, thereby, making the roads impassable for vehicles and pedestrians.
Inspecting the erosion sites, Okey Ezeobi assured the residents that Governor Chukwuma Soludo, via the State Executive Council (SEC), has captured the area for intervention in his Phase 1 project, adding that he would ensure that the Ogbeudo road would be part of roads for reconstruction.
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However, Ezeobi lamented that some Anambrarians, who are 95 percent traders, evade taxes, while others underpay.
“You can imagine where a trader who is controlling millions of naira in his business pays only N35,000 annually as tax, yet they expect the government to embark on multibillion-naira projects for their community.
“I will invite Anambra State Inland Revenue Service (AIRS) Executive Director, and we shall have a meeting with all the landlords and tenants in Nkpor to ensure they are tax compliant. Oluatuegwu is ready to judiciously use taxpayer’s money to provide a livable and prosperous environment for Ndi Anambra.,” said Ezeobi.
More so, Dr. Clem Aguiyi frowned at the indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the erosion affected Ogbeudo road in the bid to checkmate flooding, saying that it was causing more harm than good to the already bad situation.
Aguiyi mandated Ndi Anambra who pay their waste management levy to hold the local government chairmen and their contractors responsible for waste disposal because depositing refuse in drainages block flood channels, which make water to find alternative channels, thereby eroding soil surfaces and damaging roads built by government.
The two commissioners also mandated communities to find out buildings built along natural rain flood ways which causes unnecessary flooding and erosion, saying that such buildings must be unplugged to allow free flow of flooding caused by rainfall.
The inspection visit was eventually interrupted by a peaceful demonstration by the students of GTC Nkpor, urging the state government to save their school buildings and school children and teachers from being swept away by flood, which they disclosed has destroyed their fence, causing massive gully erosion around the school premises.
