SAVE US FROM EROSION MENACE, NGODO COMMUNITY TELLS FG

BY ONWUKWE EZERU

The Traditional Ruler of Ngodo Community, Eze Stephen Ihuoma has called on the Federal Government to come to their aid by deploying ecological fund towards finding a lasting solution to the multiple gullies ravaging the Autonomous Community in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia.

The Traditional Ruler made the call in an interview with newsmen in his palace while speaking on the devastation caused to the community by the phenomenon.
Eze Ihuoma said that the gullies, which occurred in different parts of the area, had washed away the only major road to the community.
He said that it had also washed away many farms, while the people now found it difficult to transport their farm produce to Umuahia town.
He said that officials of the state government and Nigeria Erosion Watershed Management Project had visited the community many times to see things for themselves.

He, however, regretted that nothing tangible had been done to check the phenomenon. The monarch said that the menace had grown beyond the capacity of the state and appealed to Federal Government to come to their rescue. Also, some prominent natives of the community, including Rev.-Fr. Christian Anokwuru, Chief Francis Achilefu and Mr Alex Nwosu, who conducted newsmen round the sites, said that the menace might wipe away the community, if urgent efforts were not made to tackle it.
They said that the gullies had sacked many families, having swept away their homes, while many others lived in fear of imminent danger.
They listed the affected villages to include Umuekwea, Umu-ugwu and the Mgbarakuma-Umunwanwa Road, leading to Obizi in Ezinihite Local Government Area of Abia.

According to them, one of the gullies, called “Obuba-Nwosu-Ocha” at Umuekwea Village, was as old as the village but was situated far away from the residential area until recently.
They said that “at that time, it posed no danger but suddenly escalated and now posed serious threat to lives and property of our people.”
They said, “Our people have all fled their homes because our place is no longer safe.”

The clergyman, Anokwuru, said that the gullies had also washed away the only road leading to the Benedictine Catholic Monastery in the community.
He said that the monastery had been closed and that the resident Reverend Sisters, numbering at least 200, had been relocated to Ugwueke in Bende LGA of the state by the Bishop of the Umuahia Catholic Diocese, Most-Rev. Lucius Ugorji.

Anokwuru said that the conversion of the monastery into a hospital as approved by the Bishop could not be built due to the lack of access road to the place. The natives blamed the escalation of the gullies on the abandonment of the Umuahia-Umunwanwa-Mbaise Road started in 2018 by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
They alleged that the abandoned construction redirected the course of rain flood from Umunwanwa toward Ngodo.
They said that the ugly situation was further aggravated by the porous nature of the community soil.

“NDDC should come to Ngodo and see the devastation it has caused the community for failing to complete its road project in the area,” they said.
They urged the federal government to declare an emergency on the gullies, saying that it would require federal government’s might to tackle the phenomenon.