PEOPLE of Ewu Community in Edo Central Senatorial District, reputed officially as the strongest contender among 110 towns and villages most devastated by erosion in the state over the weekend, asked the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, to come to their rescue.
The appeal was made by Zaiki Ojeifo 111, the Onogie of Ewu when he played host to newsmen at his palace and wailed over the damage and menace caused by the heavy gully erosion in his domain.
He lamented that the havoc has persisted for over ten years now while uncountable lives and hundreds of millions of Naira have been lost to the erosion.
Zaiki Ojeifo added that over 30 houses were under imminent threat of being washed away “anytime there is a substantially heavy rain.”
In the same vein, Mr. Clem Agba the state environment Commissioner said the gully erosion making life difficult for the people in Ewu, is only one of more than 110 sites across Edo State.
He said the worst sites are in Benin, the state capital found in Queen Ede area , Ewu, Iruekpen in Edo Central, Warrake and parts of Auchi in Edo North.
On his part the Executive Chairman of the Local Government Area, Hon. Prince Eromosele Solomon Erabhahiemen, called on the Federal Ministries of Works and Environment to come to the rescue of the people as the efforts by both state and LG will not solve the damage done by the heavy gully erosion.
Agba further added; “We have taken inventory of all of these sites. Mr. President had approved the Nigeria Erosion Watershed Management Programme, which is for five eastern states such as Cross-River and Edo State. It’s going to be World-Bank funded. The board of directors of the World Bank approved $650m facility, but the issue is that there is an imbroglio between the presidency and the national assembly.”
He said; “They have not been able to approve the national borrowing plan and until that plan is approved, none of the seven states can access the fund to begin to deal with the problem of erosion. Hopefully, if the national borrowing plan is approved, we should be able to get about $75 to $100m to begin to address the gully erosion problem. “
The Commissioner also said; “It is clearly beyond the capability of the state government. I mentioned that the design has been done; we had a study done by Sirajn Consultant and paid for by Setraco Nigeria Limited. The study showed that we need about N40bn to deal with the gully erosion, but when we looked at the report, a substantial part of the gully erosion was not taken care of”.