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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Residents of Igwogwor community in Amachai/Ogbozoma quarters of Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, have appealed to the state government to urgently save them from a yawning gully erosion.
The residents said they were living at the mercy of the about 200 meters gully which widened more each time it rained, noting that their properties were on the verge of caving-in.
A retired school principal in the civil servants populated area, Lizzy Nmadu informed that she was at risk of losing her house she laboured over the years to build if urgent steps were taken to reclaim the area.
“The gully was not like this when they built this house for me. The gully is expanding as the day goes on. Even when I went to town, I could not access my house on my way coming. I stopped there till four hours and after the rain subsided before I moved to my house,” she narrated.
The youth president in Okpanam, Lucky Okolo, who narrated his ordeal, said the gully has been existing for more than ten years, adding that properties worth millions of naira with human lives were about to be lost.
“This type of gully is not what the community or an individual can manage, hence, we are calling on the Delta State Government, Federal Government, and international donor agencies to come to our rescue,” Okolo added.
Another civil servant living in the area, Solomon Okeleke, said the wave of the flood whenever it rains threatens property and human existence.
“The gully is by the fence of one story building. I have been hearing that the wave of the water carries people when it rains, but we are not praying that should happen here before the government will come and intervene,” he said.
Delta State project coordinator of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP-EIB), Benedict Nwaukocha, said the Igwogwor gully site was a catastrophic one itching into peoples’ residence as the day goes on.
Nwaukocha said the gully is about 200 meters, adding that “if you look behind; before now, it was not that deep. As the rain comes early with greater intensity, the depth of the gully is further increasing.
“We are hoping the moment we can carry out the engineering design of this place and know the implication of the intervention, then of course, the government will swing into action.”
