Delta Community Decries Erosion Threat

Residents of Delta, especially those around Igwogwor in Amachai/Ogbozoma quarters in Okpanam town, Asaba have called on the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP-EIB) to rescue them from threatening gullies.

A retired school principal, Lady Lizzy Nmadu, said her family was at risk of losing their home if nothing was done and urgently to repair the gully that has cut off Igwogwor Quarters in Okpanam.

“The gully wasn’t like this when they built this house for me. The gully is expanding as the day goes by. When I went to town, I could not access my house on my way back. I stopped there till four hours and after the rain subsided before I moved to my house”.

A youth president in the community, Comrade Lucky Okolo, said: “The gully has been existing for more than 10 years and properties worth millions of naira with human lives are about to be lost in that environment.

“This type of gully is not what a community and individuals can manage, hence, we are calling the Delta State government, federal government and international donor agencies to come to our rescue,” he said.

Delta State project coordinator of NEWMAP-EIB, Mr. Benedict Nwaukocha who spoke on the environmental degradation in the community, said the gully is about 200m deep, describing the it as a potentially catastrophic one itching into people’s residences daily.

He said; “We are hoping the moment we can carry out the engineering design of this place and know the implication of the intervention, then of course, the government will swing into action.

“If you look behind before now, it wasn’t that deep. As the rain comes early with greater intensity, the depth of the gully is further increasing.”