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From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
Ecological devastation is a major threat to communities in the South East. No fewer than 1,000 active erosion sites exist in Anambra State just as countless number of people has been displaced.
Many communities in Abia State, particularly in the North and Central Senatorial Districts have been devastated by gully erosion. Major roads in Isiukwuato, Umunneochi, Bende and Arochukwu local governments were not spared.
Recently, the people of Umuoka Mgbarakuma in Ubakala, Umuahia South LG raised the alarm following the menace of gully erosion ravaging the community. Indigenes of the community who spoke with Daily Sun sent a Save Our Soul (SOS) to President Bola Tinubu and Governor Alex Otti to come to their immediate rescue.
They lamented that the erosion destroyed buildings, economic trees and valuable livestock, adding that if nothing urgent was done, human lives would soon be lost. They disclosed that a vast farmland had been destroyed by the expanding gully, pointing out that the situation was currently pushing poor farmers to hunger as a result of this economic displacement.
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In their presentations, Ikechi Nwachukwu, Chidi Brendan among others expressed regrets that despite the coordinated efforts of the traditional ruler of Mgbarakuma, Eze Ebere Ubani, and the President General, Ben Iroakazi, to arrest the problem through communal efforts, more areas were still caving in: “We’re living in fear.
“Our farms have been swallowed and many more farmlands are being affected. This ecological issue is real, quite menacing.
“Our people are majorly subsistence farmers. What we don’t know is how we can survive without our farms, homes and economic trees. We just need immediate help from the authorities. Government should come to our aid.”
At a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ABEPA), Umuahia zone, the Mayor of Umuahia South LG, Chinedu Enwereuz, sympathised with the victims of the ecological disaster.
He said he was currently engaging the State Ministry of Environment on the best way of addressing the matter: “I am aware of the problem but I am engaging the Abia State Ministry of Environment to see what can be done to tackle the problem.”
