Anambra community cries out over erosion threat

The Umudim community in Ekwulumili, Nnewi South local council of Anambra state, has raised the alarm over gully erosion sweeping away homes and farmlands in the area.

President General of the community, Clement Ezeifedikwa, who led journalists to the area, said the erosion has made residents live in constant fear.

The people of Ekwulumili are predominantly farmers with a large population of indigenous people, sharing boundaries with Amichi, Igboukwu, Unubi, Akwaihedi and Osumenyi.

Represented by an elder in the community, Mr. Stephen Okeke, he called for urgent intervention from the government and good-spirited Nigerians to avoid total washing away of the area.

He said, “The community is contending with four massive gullies and a few smaller ones. The erosion is posing big threats to our lives, property and farmlands. Our people cannot build houses or factories because they have lost their lands. Many of them have left their ancestral homes and relocated to other places. We are in real danger and we are calling on the international community and government at all levels to come to our rescue.”

Speaking on the issue, a resident Mrs. Charity Ezeoke said the erosion has been a recurring incident, adding that all efforts made to control it in the past had failed.

“I call on the Anambra state government to relocate the people before they lose their lives and property. Whenever it rains, the way it uproots trees and moves earth sounds like an earthquake and makes us live in fear all the time”.

Also speaking, another resident Mr. Onyeka Ikejiaku said the erosion has become a disaster, stressing that it affected economic activities and social development of the community.

Ikejiaku said, “Several government officials and agencies have been visiting but nothing has been done. That is why we are calling on the federal and state government to come to our rescue. All the flash floods from Igboukwu, Oraeri and other communities flow to the area and empty into ‘Babuwa River’, which goes to Imo state.”

For Mr. Chukwura Ntagu, he lamented that the community has been cut off from their brothers and sisters in neighbouring Umudim village in Amichi by the erosion.

“Many people left the town due to the erosion threat and most people became homeless because their lands had been washed away,” he said.