Residents of Onitsha, Anambra’s commercial capital are facing one of its worst erosion threats.
Residents are worried that their lives and livelihoods may be lost if urgent steps are not taken by the authorities to address the menace.
When ait.live visited the area, it was observed that the intervention work awarded by the Anambra state government has been abandoned for over three years now.
Obelegu Street off Awka Road, Onitsha is a scary site created by gully erosion. The people say many have been rendered homeless, others have lost their means of livelihood and more havoc awaits them if nothing is done urgently to prevent the disaster.
Efforts by the Anambra state government to construct a major drainage channel that will help check the erosion failed as the project site seemed to have been abandoned.
But the state government on their part says with over one thousand active erosion sites scattered across the twenty-one council areas, the said project was only suspended to attend to more serious erosion sites in the state.
They however appeal to the people to exercise a little patience.
Also Read: World Bank, Erosion Management Project commences rehabilitation of affected areas in Gombe
With the rains around the corner, there are heightened fears that crisis awaits the residents But with their plight rated by the government as less imminent, they only have to hope and pray.
Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe
