A senator, Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP, Abia North), yesterday cried out over a
recent gully erosion in Oguduasaa and Uturu communities of lsukwuato
local government area (LGA) of Abia state.
The lawmaker who raised the issue via a motion he sponsored, lamented
that many communities in the five councils of Abia North (Arochukwu,
Ohafia Bende, Isuikwuato and Umunneochi) are facing serious menace of
gully erosion partly due to increased rainfall causing flooding.
He explained that collapse of the roads connecting the area to Enugu,
Anambra and Ebonyi states has completely separated contiguous
communities of Oguduasaa and Uturu communities from reaching the
Isuikwuato council and beyond, “resulting in loss of lives,
properties, and especially hindering access to crucial farmlands and
limiting the evacuation of food crop at important period of the
harvesting season.”
He further expressed concern that the erosion could collapse the
entire rural agricultural economy of lsuikwuato and Abia North,
especially the communities of Oguduasaa and Uturu, with the consequent
loss of valuable agricultural products and property, with the
attendant results of food insecurity both locally and beyond the
state.
He said the situation requires urgent intervention of government.
The senate, thereafter, urged the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and
Housing, and Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to quickly
intervene to restore easy mobility of vehicles, citizens, goods and
services throughout the affected areas of Oguduasaa and Uturu
communities and other communities across the country.
It also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to
provide relief materials to the displaced citizens in the affected
communities of Uturu and Oguduasaa, as well as the other erosion
affected communities of the five councils of Abia North (Arochukwu,
Ohafia, Bende, lsuikwuato and Umunneochi) who are also in limbo.
The lawmakers also asked the Nigerian Ecological Fund and the Nigeria
Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) to urgently
collaborate to seek a permanent solution to the endemic gully erosion
menace in Isukauato, Uturu and Oguduasaa, by way of funding and
construction of a new route that links the communities with other
areas and surrounding states.
