One of the communities worse hit is Enugwu-Ukwu community in Njikoka Local Government Area.
The community is currently at the risk of being swept away unless urgent steps are taken to stem the ravaging erosion.
Already it has spent huge sums of money to tackle the menace, but the erosion keeps increasing in size and strength on a daily basis as the rains continue.
The traditional ruler of Enugwu-Ukwu, His Royal Majesty, Igwe Ralph Ekpe, who spoke to Oriental News over the plight of his community, said the development has shown that the resources of the community put together could scarcely be enough to proffer solution to the problem.
He, therefore, said that the urgent attention of both the federal and Anambra State governments is required to tackle the problem.
when our correspondent visited he found that was Enuagu village, the largest and most populated is the worst hit.
The problem of the village stemmed from the fact that it is located on a valley-like area of Enugwu-Ukwu, and flood from Nawfia and the upper area of Enugwu-Ukwu empty into it and in the process washes away its soil and thereby causing damage to the roads, farm land and residential buildings.
A popular politician in the town Chief Dozie Nwankwo has his house threatened
Oriental News gathered that Nwankwo had before now spent more than N7 million in combating the threat posed to his house by erosion, yet there is no hope that his house could be saved unless the government shows commitment in tackling the menace of erosion in the area.
Igwe Ralph Ekpe said that while the community would continue to do its little beat to check the threatening erosion, it would make a more serious effort at making the state government in particular to realize the need to come to their aid so that his people will not be washed away by flood. According to him, the present erosion menace is the greatest challenge Enugwu-Ukwu had experienced in several decades.
Also speaking to Oriental News over the plight of his people, the chairman of Enuagu village traced the history of the problem to about five years ago when flood from Nawfia and some parts of Enugwu-Ukwu began to find its way to Enuagu area thereby washing away farmlands, roads and threatening houses.
According to him the menace continues to increase with every passing year.
Mr Ezenwa recalled with grief that a secondary school boy from the village had been carried away by the flood, adding that the people had lost so much of their crops in the farms to the menace.
He, therefore, appealed to the Anambra State government to come as a matter of urgency and rescue them before more harm was done.
“We are really living in danger and serious fear because nobody knows when the next house will cave in and nobody knows whose life would be swept away again into the flood.
“What a lot of the people do now that the rains are still intense is to move to some safer areas and sleep, and then visit their houses only during the day but for how long will that be?
“Our major problem is that Enugwu-Ukwu does not have land and that is why the little we have must be protected and that is why we are urging the government to come immediately to save us and save our land,” he said.
In his own contribution, a community leader in the area, Evangelist Chidebe Okafor said that the erosion started as a flood track few years ago but has since then continued to widen in scope.
He told Oriental News that the community started combating the menace with the planting of bamboo trees, saying that with time, all the bamboo and strong pillars set up to check the menace were flushed away.
He said that although other villages such as Urunebo, Uruokpala-Nri, Ire and Uruokpalaeke villages have also been affected by the erosion, Enuagu village remains the worst hit.
Copied from Vanguard
No comments:
Post a Comment