No life has been lost since the disaster began in 2019, but over 30 buildings have been destroyed.
An estimated 200,000 persons have been rendered homeless and property worth billions of naira destroyed in three years.
The massive erosion sites at Obeleagu Street and Nkisi-Aroli Street in Onitsha have been causing panic among the inhabitants of the community since 2020. The situation is so grave that urgent intervention by the government is needed immediately to ameliorate the plight of the people in the affected areas.
Already, two churches have been destroyed completely, a school, shops, and residential buildings, with property worth billions of Naira. As the rainy season approaches, panicky residents are begging the Federal and state governments to intervene.
It was learnt that more buildings had been submerged after the first incident.
Speaking on the incident, a septuagenarian and retired educationist, Onwa Hilary Chukwudobe, who is among the victims of the erosion menace, said, “I thank God that I am surviving, and I thank the government for the much they have done, but as you can see, the calamity is not over yet.”
He added, “I thank our monarch, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, and the town union leadership, for the patronage we have received.”
Another resident of the area, Amechi Egbunike, appealed to the state government to rescue them from the gully erosion without further delay.
“We want proactive measures, not political promises earlier made by the past administrations in the state,” he said.
The President-General of Onitsha Improvement Union, Chike Ekweogwu, said the erosion started in late 2019 and worsened in 2020.
He explained that “Since then we have approached various arms of government, including the Anambra State government, to come to our aid.”
According to him, “Our monarch, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the then Minister of State for Environment, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, as well as officials of the Anambra State government under the former governor, Dr Willie Obiano, visited the site.
“The Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) officials and even former Governor Obiano were here too to look at it. He had some compassion and put up a palliative measure to channel a new gutter into the Nkisi River.”
“It locked off the other end from Obeleagu Street to Aroli Street.
That has minimised the continuous erosion in the area. He promised that for effective use of the channel, the Nkisi River would be desilted.”
Ekweogu added, “However, because the water doesn’t flow normally anymore, and you know our people with their land speculation attitude, they have encroached on it and the Nkisi River begins to be eroded.”
He appealed to Governor Soludo to complete the work started by his predecessor and desilt the river to become a free-flowing stream.
The president-general also called on both the federal and state governments to help finance gully erosion control as the community would not be able to do so.
