The people of Ngodo community in Umuahia South council area of Abia State have cried to both the state and federal governments to come to their aid before they are wiped out by threatening erosion that has been ravaging them for years.
They said over 10 houses have been swept off by erosion and many rendered homeless in three villages in their community, while many other buildings in the villages are currently on the verge of collapse.
It could be observed that with the heavy rainfall this year, many parts of Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State are already seriously threatened by erosion.
The affected communities are Umuekwea, Umuokwasa and Umunwanwa villages under Ngodo autonomous community, and some of the affected structures include commercial buildings, ancestral homes and residential buildings, farmlands are not spared so long as they in the way of the rampaging erosions.
It is a common sight to behold families within the area in question abandoning their homes whenever it rained because their homes lay within gully erosion sites that were up to 100 feet deep, while children and domestic animals are always missing after any heavy down pour in the area.
The Nation investigations gathered that in many communities, the floods were constantly creating gully erosion sites in areas that hitherto did not have such problems and sometimes pulled down structures and this had left fear in the lives of those residing close to the sites.
The residents revealed that the large number of erosion sites seen in many communities started as small holes and later developed into big ones, simply because no one took care when they complained, stressing that it would not have been this bad if those in authority had come to their aid on time.
Ngodo is one of the communities in Umuahia South that sits in the midst of age-long gully that threatens its existence every rainy season and there are other such erosion ravaged communities across the state neglected by successive administrations.
It is a well-known fact that the magnitude of the erosion sites across the state are beyond the scope of the state government and they are calling on federal government and donor agencies to come to their aid before their homes and farm lands are eaten away by erosion.
The community’s efforts in the past at checking the menace did not address the problem.
Speaking with The Nation, the pioneer Catholic priest from the area, Rev. Fr. Christian Uche Anokwuru has identified the soil texture and traced the history of the gully erosion sites to the abandoned NDDC Umuwanwa road which was awarded over a decade ago.
Fr. Anokwuru explained that because of the abandoning of the road project the erosion expanded through gully erosion coming from the road gave birth to the various gullies created within Ngodo autonomous community.
The cleric said, “We are farmers in Ngodo autonomous community, and today we can’t access the road to sell our produce, we have also lost our streams, we no longer have access to potable water again because the erosion have taken the streams away”.
“Our sources of water supply are no longer there, we go to far communities to get water, you can also see the distance this place is from the town, people die out of emergency situations because they are sick and before they could find a vehicle that can take them to the hospital in the town, they run into complications and people die on the way”.
“We are calling on NDDC, Ecological Fund Office to help us, this problem can be salvaged; people have run to their maternal homes, Ngodo is no longer a safe place, we have no government presence here.
“Our people were happy when the Bishop of Umuahia diocese approved the establishment of a monastery, unfortunately those in the monastery have left to a place known as Ugwueke in Bende Local Government Area because they can’t access their homes”
“The Bishop of Umuahia diocese approved the building to be used as a clinic to help the people, but incidentally, there is no road to access the place, though the gully erosion did not take us by surprise as we have been doing a lot to take care of the erosion to no avail”.
Despite all our efforts, the gullys are just beyond what my community can handle. We have been doing community fund raising program to help ourselves but the situation at hand now is beyond the capacity of the community”.
In his own reaction, the traditional ruler of Ngodo autonomous community, His Royal Highness Eze Stephen Ihuoma said the gully erosion sites have brought untold hardship on his community as farm lands are being destroyed.
Eze Ihuoma noted that most of their roads have been cut off especially the only one leading to Ngodo, stressing that his people have been cut off from their kindred from other communities, He said, “We are no longer aware of what is happening within and around us, which is not good for any community in this modern time”.
He pointed out that though there were some palliative measure the member representing Umuahia/Ikwuano Federal Constituency Hon. Sam Onuigbo did on the sites which could not withstand the pressure from the gully erosion and the money injected into the palliative carried out on the sites was a waste.
The monarch said the gullies are beyond the capacity of the community and the state government and called on the federal government through ecological fund office to come to their aids.
A community leader who identified himself as Chief Francis Achilefu who also serves as the works Chairman Ngodo autonomous community said community members have fled to their maternal homes to take refuge as there are no access roads to their farms, churches as the gully erosion sites have made rural dwellers to desert their homes.