At least five hundred (500) residents of Enugwu-Ukwu community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State have been sacked from their homes by landslides and ravaging erosion menace.
Also, precariously hanging on the edge of one of the many dangerous erosion sites in the community is the personal home of a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the House of Representatives representing Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia constituency, Mr Dozie Nwankwo.
The community’s leader, Mr Emmanuel Nwadinigwe told journalists that the menace has so far eaten away about 70hectares of the communal land.
Washed away were no fewer than about one hundred homes, farmlands, graves, shrines, economic trees, and public utilities sited in the affected areas, while the fate of others were hanging on the edge.
Nwadinigwe, who was the spokesperson for the Urunnebo village, Enugwu-Ukwu made this known on Tuesday when the officials of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) visited some of the sites in the area for an on-the-spot assessment to ascertain the level of damage.
He regretted that many villagers had become tenants because their homes were destroyed by the erosion which he disclosed has ravaged the community for more than 30 years, leaving it in deplorable environmental condition.
He lamented that all efforts made in the past by the community to control the erosion at the initial stage through planting of bamboo and Melina trees, yielded little or no success.
He therefore appealed to both the state, federal governments and international agencies including the World Bank to come to their aid before they were completely swept off.
The Anambra State Project Coordinator of NEWMAP, Michael Ivenso, and a consultant to NEWMAP, Mr Sola Akinsiku, in their speeches, assured that remedial work would start in the area.
They implored the residents to embrace positive environmental practices to ensure that further damage were checked.
From Chuks Collins, Awka
