From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
About two years ago, overflow of water from Ebiya/Ebonyi River due to excessive rainfall experienced in Abakaliki displaced more than 500 persons. It also destroyed property worth millions of naira at Unagboke, Inyimagu Azugwu community of Ebonyi State.
When Daily Sun visited the area then, the village head, Emmanuel Igwe, lamented that their crops including yam, rice, water yam, cocoyam and maize were destroyed by the disaster, while household items were not spared. He appealed to government to come to their rescue by mandating the completion of the on going dredging works in parts of the capital city.
One of the victims, a widow, Mrs Eucharia Chikezie, said the incident caused her untold hardship as she lost over 100 fowls to the flood. Similar incident occurred in Akaeze, Ivo Local Government and Okposi and Uburu in Ohaozara LGA.
But, the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) in the state said it is poised to address any of such environmental issues while also cushioning the effect on communities. NEWMAP on May 11, 2022, gathered a large number of people drawn from 61 Community Interest Groups (CIGS) and Community Associations (CAS) in Abakaliki, where it splashed over N300 million on them.
The project financed with credit from the World Bank was established in 2013 to address the problem of gully erosion and flood. It also supports complementary activities geared at restoring the livelihood of the citizenry and enhance people in the project communities.
State Project Coordinator, NEWMAP, Dr Philip Echegu, said before the intervention, gully erosion had sacked the headquarters of Afikpo South LGA and continued to pose major threat to lives and property in Abakaliki metropolis:
“During the problem, movements were disrupted, homes, farms, public institutions and infrastructure were flooded. Businesses and roads were not accessible, schools and communities were cut off.”
He disclosed progress made to include the completion of remediation works at Nguzu Edda gully site, completion of flood control/bioremediation/fencing works at Ebiya River, Egu Ugwu Agbaja flood site and completion of flood control/bioremediation/fencing at Odunukwe-Nkaliki Hatchery Road site. Similarly, works at Iyiokwu-International Market Flood site and Iyiudele, at the completion stages respectively were not left out.
In addition, 19 box culverts were constructed across the various project intervention sites including designs at some areas as Esu-Umunaga, Oferekpe-Akahufu-Odomowo, Old Water Works Road and the already finished Stormwater Management Master plan for Abakaliki.
Eighteen (12,000 litres) capacity solar-powered motorised borehole were provided, 2,366 energy cooking stoves and enormous cubic meters capacity customized roadside waste bins were distributed alongside polythene bags: “In our quest to affect lives positively, we have empowered members of some CIGS, State MDS and council areas with great number of tricycles.
“We also installed 30KVA solar power system at the General Hospital, Enu Nwovu, constructed a solar-powered garri processing mill for Oroke Onuoha Cooperative Society and Ebiya Unuhu and trained local government town engineers and heads of departments in agriculture across the state to strengthen their capacity to sustain operations and maintain project works.”
Echegu said NEWMAP had supported the Department of Soil Science and Environmental Management of Ebonyi State University with meteorological laboratory and green house equipment and trained some staff on the usage and maintenance of the equipment.
It was learnt that the project created over 1,500 direct and indirect jobs since its inception. It assisted 20 CIGS and one community association in Nguzu Edda, Afikpo South LG with N27million for the establishment of small-scale enterprises as part of livelihood support initiative in some areas.
NEWMAP also reclaimed hectares of land in some previously flood erosion prone areas. It compensated 940 project-affected persons in the intervention sites.
Governor David Umahi said: “Before now, erosion and flood were part of our problems. But the coming on board of the World Bank-assisted project had become a turning point in ameliorating the ugly trend of the menace in the state.”
He spoke through his Commissioner for Environment, Richard Nnabu. He urged the beneficiaries to use the funds for the intended purposes in their various areas. He warned that the beneficiaries would be closely monitored by NEWMAP, the state executive council members, traditional rulers and the town union leaders, to ensure that the grants were judiciously used:
“I will equally reinstate the government position on zero tolerance for indiscriminate dumping of waste into drain channels, encroachment on waterways, illegal sand mining and other forms of practices capable of causing soil erosion and flooding in the state and retard our efforts to enthrone safe environment.”
One of the beneficiaries from Nnadozie Integrated Development Foundation, Dr Paschal Kanu, said: “I can recall that around two years ago or thereabout, we had gathered over a similar event which both the governments and the World Bank through NEWMAP have the peoples’ interest at heart.
“My humble appeal is for the people to utilise this rare opportunity to improve their various means of livelihood in their respective localities.”