Indigenes of Achina in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra state have called for an urgent intervention of the federal government following the menace of gully erosion, which is threatening to sack them from their ancestral homes.
Leaders of the community, who spoke after conducting journalists round the gully erosion sites within their community on Tuesday in Achina, said gully erosion posed serious challenge to more than 250 families, lamenting that they no longer relate with members of the neighbouring communities because they have been cut off.
Chief Modestus Umenzekwe, a Lagos-based businessman, who spoke to journalists, said he personally engaged the services of a bulldozer operator to create palliative road for his people, but the job was now beyond what an individual can do.
“The erosion problem we are facing in Achina resulted from the abandonment of Akpo-Mbaraoye Achina-Ogwu Nganga-Onneh-Agbudu-Ogboji road awarded by former Governor Peter Obi.
“The contractor handling the road stopped work at St. Peter Secondary School, Achina and rather than complete the job, the firm diverted money meant for the job to other side.
“We decided to cry out because in spite the palliative job I have done because if the state Governor Willie Obiano and the federal government do not act fast, Achina people will be in for mega disaster,” he claimed.
Umenzekwe said it was the water channel constructed by the contracting firm handling the road that snowballed into gully erosion near St. Peter Secondary School Achina.
Two other gully erosion sites, one close to St. Peter Catholic University Achina owned by Awka Catholic Diocese and another near Ugwu Nganga, Umenzekwe said, have been there for some time now.
He added that the two gullies began to extend near buildings, farmlands and economic trees due to flash flood caused by the increasing flow of water via the poor road construction.
“The magnitude of the gully in Achina now is beyond what the Anambra State alone can handle, we equally appeal to the federal government and international agencies to come to our aid,” Umenzekwe pleaded.
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