17
THE NATION, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2012
Panic as landslide ravages Ekwueme’s, Akunyili’s communities
•One of the affected sites
•The abandoned drainage now cut into two
•Residents send SOS to government, World Bank I NDIGENES of Oko and Nanka communities in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State have sent a save our soul message to the state and federal governments as well as the World Bank, following a landslide that rendered some members of the two communities homeless. The landslide, which occurred around 8 am last Saturday, it was gathered, wreaked more havoc on the communities already ravaged by gully erosion. Oko is the hometown of former Nigerian Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, while Nanka is the native town of former Minister of Information and Director General National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Dora Akunyili. The erosion, which claimed many lives and destroyed property estimated at billions of naira, according to residents of the communities, including the students of the Federal Polytechnic Oko, took a more dangerous dimension at the weekend when without any rain or
Adimike GEORGE
seismic signs, it cut the major drainage that has controlled the gully erosion in the two communities. As a result, residents of the affected area, out of panic, fled to other parts of the communities. But when the signs of danger subsided on Monday, they returned to move out their property. When reporters visited the area on Tuesday, the residents who were moving their things besieged them, wailing and calling on the government and the World Bank to come to their aid. The traditional ruler of Oko, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, in an interview with reporters, decried the menace of the landslide and erosion in his community and called on the World Bank to come to their assistance. He disclosed that the contract for the control of the erosion, which probably triggered the landslide, had been awarded for a very long time but was abandoned for no known reasons. He decried a situation where government plays politics with important projects that would affect
the lives of the citizenry. According to him, if the menace was not checked before the rainy season, many buildings , including his ancestral home, will be eroded because the abandoned drainage project that has been controlling the erosion has been cut off by the landslide. One of the victims, whose house stands less than two metres away from the landslide site, Mr. Martin Ezeofor, said he had been forced to move his family to a safer place. He appealed to the Federal Government to come to their aid before the entire communities were washed away. He recalled that the menace of erosion had plagued the communities and the environs, including Ekwulobia and Amaokpala, for more than a century without any efforts by the government to address the issue. Other residents who spoke to reporters at the landslide site were Ichie Barnabas Nwafor, Bomboy Onyeagba, Cyprian Ezeokeke, Joseph Ibeakamma, Hilary Ezeofor and Nneka Ezeokeke. They all decried the devastating effect
•Some of the lamenting residents
of the landslide, adding that the cutting of the drainage will trigger off more menacing landslides once the rains start. This, they said, informed the evacuation of people and property from the area. The residents lamented the loss of lives to the menace in the past, as well as buildings and large expanse of farmlands in recent times. They called on the Federal Government and environmental protection bodies to come to their rescue. The Public Relations Officer of the Federal Polytechic Oko, whose extension site was ravaged by erosion, Mr. Obini Onuchukwu, noted that the students of the institution were also affected by the landslide. He noted that some of the students who live outside the campus have relocated because of the menace, adding that the extension site of the polytechnic was also ravaged. Onuchukwu urged the relevant authorities responsible for tackling environmental challenges to intervene as quickly as possible to avert further disaster.