Edo residents appeal to Obaseki over ravaging gully

Residents of Government Housing Estate Iguosa in Benin City at the weekend expressed fear over the ravaging gully in their community and the attendant threat to lives and property.

The residents have equally appealed to the Federal Government to come to their rescue by engaging contractors to embark on reclamation work. They also appealed to Edo State government to make financial commitment towards its reclamation to the World Bank for work to commence on the gully site.

Speaking with The Guardian, a distraught resident Mr. Jonathan Iweibor, alleged that efforts to ensure reclamation work on Iguosa Estate by the state government is lip service.

“In 2017 and 2018, Edo State government used element of seasonal weather to make residents believed that they are sympathetic with the residents that have more than 50 front-line houses submerged by the gully. Government has always given an excuse that serious work on the gully cannot be handled in the rainy season but this is the third year running with such excuses,” he alleged.

Iweibor lamented that over 70 houses have caved into the gully since 2014 when the menace was first noticed.

When contacted on phone, Special Adviser to the governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, said government has plans to commence reclamation work on the gully and has made commitment towards that through NEWMAP.

He said: “There is nothing like lip service. A lot of effort has been made to deal with gully erosion in the state. The governor through NEWMAP is doing a lot to reclaim areas ravaged by gully erosion across the state. Works have started with the Ibori gully and Ewu gully in Edo Central and another in Auchi in Edo North.”

Osagie who noted that Measurement and Impact Assessment has been taken on the Iguosa estate gully. He appealed to residents to be patient as the project is receiving government attention.