From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
The members of Ihuaku kindred in Ebenato Okpala community, Amichi in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State have been sacked by flood and erosion, which destroyed their economic trees, farm lands, as well as killing their domestic animals.
Members of the community who are already relocating to other safe neighbourhoods raised the alarm with an appeal to Anambra State and Federal governments to come to their rescue before the ecological problem removes them from the map of the state.
Heavy rains this year, according to the residents, continued to aggravate the situation to the extent that all the roads leading to the community are now waterlogged, making it impossible for people to pass even on foot.
Lamenting on the deplorable condition of the community’s environment, Chairman of the Ihuaku kindred, Ebenato, Mr Chinedu Muonago, said the community had spent millions of naira on their own to check the menace to no avail.
He explained that the more the community made efforts to stop the surging erosion caused by flood, the more the situation became worse.
He regretted that whatever materials used to wage the flood were always swept away by the uncontrollable heavy flooding that gather from the adjoining communities, including Igbo-Ukwu, Isuofia and some other parts of Aguata Local Government Area.
Muonago told Oriental News that his community had in the past appealed to individuals and corporate organizations for help, but could not get any hence the decision to run to governments and international agencies to intervene in order to save their souls.
He said that children from the community could not go to school each time it rained, adding that “even adults are always incapacitated in terms of movement whenever there is a rainfall.
“Efforts have been made on several occasions to see if we can control it and members of the community have tasked themselves heavily, contributing huge amounts of money.
“But we can now see that the size of the problem is beyond our control. We have been battling this flood and erosion menace here for the past 10 years. If we can articulate our losses since then, it runs into millions of naira even though no life has been lost. And that is why we are crying before it degenerates to loss of lives which we fear will soon happen, if nothing is done urgently.”
Also the Secretary to the community’s town union, Chief Michael Obiekezie said the ecological problem could only be solved, if the floods from neighbourhoods could be properly channelled so that the erosion there would not continue to deepen.
He said that since the community members could not do it by themselves because of the level the menace had reached, an international agency like the World Bank in addition to Federal and State governments could please respond to their distress call to avert imminent loss of lives and property in the community.
He said that from the look of things, many houses in the community would soon be eroded by the flood and others swallowed by erosion.