Residents of Akai Effa community in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, have appealed for urgent government’s intervention as advancing gully erosion threatens more than 200 houses and has destroyed fish farms, poultry farms and other investments estimated at over N100 million.

The Village Head, Henrietta Effa-Akpere, raised the alarm on Tuesday after leading community elders on an assessment visit to two major erosion sites that she said posed a serious danger to residents.

She said that the erosion began more than five years ago as small gullies but had expanded into deep craters following heavy rainfall, destroying farmland and cutting off access roads.

According to her, the community had reported the problem to the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) several years ago. She said that though officials visited the area for an assessment, no remediation work done.

“We have been reporting it since the time NEWMAP was there. They came here and inspected the area, but nothing was done. It has been four or five years since the gully fingers began, and we did not know that heavy rainfall would aggravate the situation,” she said.

Effa-Akpere disclosed that heavy rainfall about three weeks ago destroyed fish ponds and poultry farms belonging to residents, including Surilaco Farms and Dr Henry Onwe, with the losses estimated at more than N100 million.

“Some people who have fish and poultry farms lost their fish because of the heavy rainfall. The rain wiped out their produce worth over N100 million,” she said.

She added that the erosion had reached residential areas, leaving some victims without food or shelter and forcing residents to abandon their homes.

“As I speak, many victims have nothing to eat or anywhere to stay because erosion has threatened their homes,” she lamented.

The monarch, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government, Cross River State Government and relevant ecological agencies to intervene urgently before further rainfall caused more destruction or claimed lives.

“My plea is that the Federal Government should join hands with the state government to rescue these people. If the rain continues like this, many lives could be lost,” she warned.

She also appealed to the member representing Calabar Municipality/Odukpani Federal Constituency, Joseph Bassey, who chairs the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Management, to assist the community.

Describing Bassey as her son and a resident familiar with the area, she urged him to return and help address the crisis.

“He knows most of these problems. I am using this medium to appeal to him to come home. His home is on fire, and he should come and help Akai Effa,” she said.

Residents, who spoke with The Guardian, warned that the community could become completely inaccessible and more houses could collapse into the gullies if urgent protective measures were not taken before the rains intensified.

They called on the Ecological Fund Office, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency and the state Ministry of Environment to assess the affected areas and begin emergency remediation work.