By Ifeanyi Uwagwu
Residents of Ogheye-Eghoroke, Ogheye-Dimigun, and other communities along the Benin River in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State have appealed to the Delta State Government and other relevant stakeholders for permanent solutions to the ocean surge affecting them.
They made this appeal when the commissioner, the Bureau for Special Duties, Hon. Ejiro Etacherure and his team visited the communities for an assessment of the surge that is threatening the communities.
The spokesperson of the communities, Comrade Johnson Bordor, expressed gratitude to the visiting team for embarking on the visit, appealed to them to look beyond the short-term measures and palliatives as the panacea to the issue. He also mentioned that as a resort to self-help, the communities have began engaging with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to find a lasting solution to the issue.
“We want to appeal to this body to assist us through other means, not just palliative. Palliative is temporary, but we want to appeal to let us have a permanent solution. That is what we want, protection from the ocean surge. That is what we are pleading for. We know that it’s capital-intensive, we cannot do it alone. It’s going to be some kind of collaboration. We want to appeal to the government and the NDDC. We are committing engagements on what is happening here today with NDDC, and we have presented our paper too.” He remarked.
Describing the severity of the surge, which began last week Thursday, destroying properties running into millions of naira and gradually sinking the communities, another resident of the community mentioned that the incident has sacked over 100 persons from their homes, triggering a community-wide humanitarian crisis, with families resorting to sleeping in uncompleted buildings that are still safe from the surge.
“All these uncompleted buildings you see, people were not staying inside, but they have gone back to rehabilitate them for their benefit. We didn’t even know that you people were coming if not we would have asked everybody to wait. One hundred and ten names of those our people are living here. 30-40 are sleeping here. This morning, assuming you came early, you will find them sweeping. If you look that way, you will find gathered dirt. People are sleeping here because they don’t have houses again, those houses are gone”, he bemoaned. In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Prince Greg Ejohwomu commiserated with the members of the community, noting that the pain or worry of any Deltan was felt by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, which prompted the visit by the team.
He mentioned that the team would relay their findings to the Governor before any further line of action would be taken.
Other members of the visiting team include member representing Warri North in the State House of Assembly, Hon. Fred Martins; Chairman Warri North LGA, Hon Festus Ashima; Director State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr Karo Ovemeso and others.
