Achina community in Aguata Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra Ssate has sought intervention of Governor Chukwuma Soludo and President Bola Tinubu over erosion menace devastating the community.
Blueprint correspondent, who visited the community reports that the inhabitants are living in fear, as the clouds gather for another season of rain.
Over 10 active erosion sites have eaten deep into the people’s lands, vacated homesteads, and separated families from their kits and kins.
From the massive Iheokwaranwa erosion site in Umueleke, to the gully around the Ezeokoro stream and down to the gully ravages along the Ugwunganga road, occasioned by the abandonment of construction work on the road, the community urged the state and federal governments, including international agencies and development partners’ intervention.
Speaking in an interview, the President-General, Achina Town Union (ATU), Mr Tony Ezenwaka, recalled that the community has through several self-help initiatives deployed a huge amount of resources in checking the disaster, but it appeared the situation has gone out of hand.
“Ihe Okwaranwa is a classic example of government failure where Governor Obiano performed the 2014 National Tree Planting Campaign but the site has long been abandoned and the site is expanding ferociously. We are advising residents to open up every water channel like catchment pits at homes and public spaces and to de-silt water drainages to allow free flow of flood to nearby flowing streams.
“We are also asking every family, ward, or village to declare a sanitation day to clean up the environment, remove all materials blocking the free flow of water in our gutters, cut down overgrown weeds and trees around our houses, and plant trees in homes and public spaces to provide shades and protect the environment,” he said.
