7 Communities Under Threat As Erosion Sacks 2 In Enugu

Gully erosion has sacked residents of Odongbu-Amogbeke and Akponge-Amoju in Ezimo, Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State, while seven other communities are being threatened by the menace.

Deputy Chairman of the council, Mr Natty Eze, while conducting members of the Enugu State Assembly Committee on Environment round the devastation site, said the victims were now scattered in neighbouring villages.

Eze said the affected communities currently lacked lands for agriculture which was their main occupation.

He listed other areas affected by the gully erosion to include Mkporogwu-Ezimo-Ulo road and Ugwu Odor-Uruneya erosion site in Udunedem ward.

Others are the two erosion sites at Obollo-Afor, four at Amalla community, Ama-Orba and Iyi-Opu Ozalla, which he said were beyond the financial capacity of the local government.

Eze said the council had controlled the erosion site at Umuezejo-Obollo-Afor and therefore appealed to the state and Federal Governments to come to their aid to curb the erosion.

He commended the assembly committee on environment for their foresight in collating data on ecological disasters threatening the state.

In his response, Chairman of the committee, Mr Donatus Uzogbado, called on communities in the area to imbibe and revive the culture of road maintenance by checking erosion at its onset.

Uzogbado, while assuring them of the government’s commitment to contolling erosion in the area however said waiting for the government to do all things, even when people in the community were facing environmental threats, was not the best.