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From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
Panic has gripped Akai Effa community in Calabar Municipality Local Government Area of Cross River State as a ravaging gully erosion threatens to wipe out the community, destroying homes, farms and other investments.
The Village Head of Akai Effa, Henrietta Effa-Akpere, has appealed to the Federal Government, Cross River State Governor, Bassey Otu, and the member representing Calabar South, Akpabuyo and Bakassi Federal Constituency, Joseph Bassey, to urgently intervene and save the community from further devastation.
The monarch raised the alarm after leading community elders on an inspection of two critical erosion sites, which she described as death traps following recent heavy downpours.
According to her, the erosion, which began more than five years ago, has worsened despite repeated reports to relevant authorities and previous inspections of the affected areas.
“It has been there, we have been reporting, even right from when NEWMAP was there. They came here and did inspection. It has taken over four or five years that the gully fingers began. Unknown to us that the heavy rainfall was going to aggravate the matter,” she lamented.
Effa-Akpere disclosed that the situation had assumed a frightening dimension, with flooding recorded about three weeks ago washing away fish farms, poultry farms and other investments valued at more than N100 million.
She said the affected residents had suffered huge financial losses, with some losing their entire livelihoods to the disaster.
“Some people that have fish and poultry farms lost everything. The rain wiped all their produce worth over N100 million. Among those who lost their farms include Surilaco, Dr. Henry Onwe and others,” she said.
The monarch expressed concern that the worsening erosion had left several residents struggling to find food and safe accommodation, while the continued destruction threatened to render more homes uninhabitable.
“As I speak, a lot of the victims have nothing to eat or where to stay because erosion has threatened their homes,” she added.
Making an emotional appeal for urgent intervention, the traditional ruler urged the Federal and Cross River State governments to work together to address the environmental disaster before it claims lives and completely destroys the community.
She warned that continued heavy rainfall could worsen the erosion and expose more residents to danger if immediate steps were not taken to contain the advancing gullies.
“My cry is that the Federal Government should join hands with the state government to rescue these people. Because if the rain continues like that, many lives may go,” she warned.
The monarch also made a special appeal to Bassey, whom she described as a son of the soil, to return to the community and help mobilise urgent assistance for the affected residents.
She stressed that immediate intervention was necessary to prevent further destruction of property, protect lives and save Akai Effa from the threat of environmental devastation.
