THE people of Ogbe-Ubu quarters in Ogwashi-Uku have raised the alarm over the threat posed by gully erosion to residents of the Iyi-Ada road axis.
Residents of the less than 100 meter stretch of earth road are living under heavy apprehension as some buildings in the affected area have been dislodged by the erosion.
A visit by our correspondent to the affected area revealed a harmless stretch of earth road whose terminating point displays a frightening gully erosion of over 200 feet’s below sea level.
Findings from community persons showed that the Iyi-Ada road was initially a shallow slope that stretched into the shallow river that was serving as source of water for most people from different quarters in Ogwashi-Uku.
Further investigations revealed that some houses built several decades before the erosion menace have over time caved in due to the erosion, forcing some of the residents of the area to flee from what they described as a danger zone.
The Ogboli of Ogwashi-Uku and an indigene of Ogbe-Ubu quarters, Chief Austin Okeibunor in a chat with Ogwashi-Uku Metro revealed that the state of the erosion has become something that needs to be seen to be believed.
He revealed that as a youth, they used to go to the river to fetch water for domestic uses, saying that no one knew that someday, the area would cave in and become a threat to people.
He further disclosed that efforts have been made over the years by some concerned indigenes of the quarter to draw attention to it.
Collaborating the position of the Ogboli of Ogwashi-Uku, Nweke Malechi attributed the widening of the gully erosion to a drainage that was channelled to the sloppy Iyi-Ada river several decades ago.
He revealed that the drainage, which was constructed during the defunct Bendel State was what destroyed the sloppy Iyi-Ada river and eventually opened the chasm that has become a serious threat to their people.
Hear him, “I had to relocate from the area with my family two months ago. This is because, each time part of the ground caves in, the vibration is felt in our house. It is all the more frightening considering the fact that our house is just a stone throw to the chasm.
“The drainage was constructed in such a form that most of the rain falls from most part of Ogwashi-Uku metropolis finds its route through the Iyi-Ada drainage and goes to settle at the river.
“No one knew that over the years, the channelling of the rainfalls would destroy the entire area. Looking at the depth of the chasm, no one would believe that there was a light sloppy earth road that we use to traverse to fetch water from the river when we were kids.
“Now, no one dare go close to the area, much less to look deep down into the chasm for fear of falling off from the cleft into the depth below”, he disclosed.
Malechi further hinted that a former member of the House of Reps from the area once visited the area to ascertain the seriousness of the erosion, but nothing further was heard of it.
“I had to move away with my family from the area due to the threat posed by the erosion. Sometimes, when part of the land caves in, it reverberates in our house.
“I just pray government would do something about it. Otherwise, the entire residents of the Iyi-Ada road axis are not safe”, he said.
