Environment
By Chiedu Uche Okoye
A deep gully erosion, which is at Ugamuma village, Obosi, Anambra state, is threatening to sunder in two the road that bypasses Union Secondary School (USS), Obosi.
The road, which passes in front of the Anambra State School of Health Technology, Obosi, Anti-Cult Police Station, Obosi, and Union Secondary School, Obosi, leads to the totemic Idemili River and the interior of the village.
The age-old yawning gully erosion, which is at the end of the road, is a huge ecological disaster that has eaten up acres of land in the area.
Speaking to this journalist, the principal of Union Secondary School, Obosi, Mrs. Ebele Onugha, expressed the fear that the gully erosion would eat up the houses located near the erosion site, including USS, Obosi, if it is not checked immediately.
“I am calling on the government to rally to our help and fix that gully erosion ravaging our land, as soon as possible.
“If it is not checked, it will swallow houses and public buildings located in the area,” Onugha said.
In his own comments, Stanley Abanofor, a native of Ugamuma village, lamented in a WhatsApp post that the erosion has been destroying people’s land for years, and that the ecological disaster has worsened with the onset of rainfall.
Again, he felt apprehensive that as the erosion is advancing menacingly towards people’s houses and public buildings, it would eat them up in no time.
“Over the years, the destructive erosion has continued to eat deep into the land, threatening school infrastructure, nearby homes, and other buildings.
“What was once a controllable environmental challenge has now grown into a dangerous menace capable of causing irreversible damage if left unchecked,” Abanofor said.
And, Deborah Okeke, a resident in the area, narrated that well-heeled people, whose houses are in the area, had sunk huge sums of money into the execution of measures to control the erosion menace.
“It is saddening that this erosion problem has continued to destroy our lands despite the efforts that rich people in this area have made to stop the erosion menace,” Okeke said.
Land erosion is an environmental disaster that has affected towns in Anambra state, resulting in the loss of farmlands, houses, school buildings, markets, and industries.
The landslide at Ugamuma village, Obosi, which has cut a swathe through people’s land, eating them up to cause depression, needs urgent attention from both the state and federal governments.
F.O
Tags: Obosi Ugamuma village