A senator, Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP, Abia North), Wednesday cried out over a recent gully erosion in Oguduasaa and Uturu communities of lsukwuato Local Government Area (LGA) of his state.
The lawmaker who raised the issue via a motion he sponsored, lamented that many communities in the five LGAs of Abia North (Arochukwu, Ohafia Bende, Isuikwuato and Umunneochi) are facing a 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 LGA 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, and 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 LGAs of Abia North (Arochukwu, Ohafia, Bende, lsuikwuato and Umunneochi) who are also in limbo; and
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. Premium Times
