ANAMBRA STATE: OVER 900 EROSION SITES THREATEN COMMUNITIES

Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State has called on the Federal Government to immediate declare a state of emergency on erosion problem ravaging several parts of the state.

This is to enable federal authorities embark on comprehensive tackling of the ecological menace.

Governor Obiano, who made the call while inspecting the gully erosion site recently threatening residents of Obeleagu-ozala Onitsha, emphasised that the state was losing its land mass while the people were losing their lives and means of livelihood to erosion.

Governor Obiano while noting that a state of emergency was urgently required in view of the devastating effects of flood and gully erosion to lives, property and the ecosystem across the country, appealed to the presidency to ensure that remediation was carried out on major erosion sites in Anambra State.

He lamented that about nine hundred and seventy-two erosion sites in the area had taken almost all the top soil and destroyed lives and property of some people of the state, saying that his administration was currently working on some of the erosion sites.

The Governor who announced that the state government was collaborating with the World Bank, expressed joy that the Hundred Foot Nnewi Erosion Site had been controlled.

The Governor also used the opportunity to call on the people of the area to support the contractor handling the project, adding that the present administration would not relent in ensuring that dividends of democracy were enjoyed by all.

The Commissioner for Work, Mr. Marcel Ifejiofor, who said that the debt of the erosion was up to thirty-five kilometers, promised that the firm would work twenty-four hours to achieve its target.

The contractor handling the project, Mr. Youssef Usuf, assured the Governor that he would deliver the job as demanded by government.

A resident of the area thanked the government for the palliative works going on at the Obeleagu- Ozala Onitsha erosion site and promised to give the firm handling the site the maximum cooperation.

Meanwhile Radio Nigeria gathered that more than thirty buildings in the area are currently under erosion threat.

ONYINYE CHIJIOBI