By Obinna Odogwu
Anambra State is arguably the erosion capital of Africa, if not the world. As of today, the state has over 1,000 active erosion sites. The figure was around 950 as of April 2022, according to the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
Soludo made the revelation during a rndtable meeting with the taskforce team of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) held at Bon Hotel, Awka, Anambra State capital.
The team came to Anambra for a three-day workshop that centred on the organisation’s Additional Financing (AF) Implementation Completion and Result Report Mission (ICRM), which took place at the International Convention Centre in the capital city.
At the event, which drew participants from 22 other states of the federation that have ongoing NEWMAP interventions, the governor lamented the devastating impact of gully erosion in the state.
The Deputy Governor, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, represented the Anambra State governor.
Just a year later, the Commissioner for Environment, Felix Odimegwu, an engineer, revealed that erosion sites in the state had hit 1,000 based on his findings.
He made the revelation while unveiling the state’s programme for the 2023 World Earth Day (WED) in Awka.
While lamenting that Anambra was losing arable land to gully erosion, the Environment Commissioner revealed that new erosion sites were still emerging in the state.
From 2022 to 2025, available reports show that more erosion sites have emerged in various parts of the state.
Currently, a very deep gully is threatening the fence of Amanuke General Hospital, Amanuke in Awka North Local Government Area of the state, as well as the family home of Mr. Humphrey Onyekomelu which shares boundary with it.
In fact, if urgent action is not taken, both the hospital’s fence and the residential building may cave in anytime soon.
In Nnewi South, many communities in that Local Government Area are currently battling with erosion issues. The same applies to parts of Nnewi town in Nnewi North LGA.
Erosion sites in Agulu community, Anaocha LGA; Nanka and Oko communities in Orumba North LGA are still very much active. In fact, the three sites are regarded as the headquarters of gully erosion in the state.
Erosion issues in the three communities are so bad that their residents reportedly spend each day in fear, not knowing when and where the next landslide would take place.
So far, scores of lives have been lost, properties worth several millions of Naira destroyed even as farmlands and economic trees have been washed away.
The Federal Polytechnic, Oko is under a serious threat. Already, a part of the institution’s perimeter fence has been pulled down by a very deep gully and some buildings near it threatened.
In other parts of the state, there have been a series of reports about the devastating impacts of gully erosion.
There is hardly any community in the state that does not have its own share of the erosion issues.
Odimegwu lamented during the NEWMAP’s workshop that over 70 per cent of the state’s land mass was reportedly at the risk of gully erosion.
He had said: “Anambra today is faced with an existential threat from the scourge of erosion; we are the state with the second highest population density in Nigeria and alongside that, we have the most active number of erosion sites.
“It’s being reported that about 70 percent of the land in Anambra State is at risk of gully erosion. This is the precarious state we are in, with less than three percent of our erosion menace under control, we not only ask for more, but wish to charge NEWMAP and her funding partners to declare a state of emergency on Anambra’s erosion menace.”
Despite this sad condition of the state, some of its residents still engage in unwholesome practices that promote the development of new gully erosion sites and the worsening of the already existing ones.
Across many communities, incessant excavation of the soil surface is still going on. There is also the indiscriminate disposal of wastes as well as the deliberate blockage of water channels by unscrupulous individuals.
These negative actions undermine the efforts currently being made by the state government to check gully erosion and their devastating impact in the state as well as the remedial work already done by NEWMAP.
The state government under the firm leadership of Gov. Soludo has spent and is still spending its scarce resources in its efforts to reclaim lands taken by the gully erosion.
There is, therefore, a need for the people to join hands with the government to prevent further deterioration of our environment and the emergence of new erosion sites in the state. Indiscriminate excavation of the soil surface must be stopped.
There is also a need for stringent laws and regulations to be made by the government, and where necessary amend the existing ones, to protect our environment.
It is important that religious, traditional and social organisations as well as influential individuals in the state lend their voices and support to the efforts being made by the state and federal governments to protect our environment and make it safe for everyone.
• Odogwu writes via [email protected]