Aftermath of NatureNews’ report on coastal erosion, NDDC visits Bayelsa Community

By Obiabin Onukwugha

The Niger Delta Development Commission on Sunday announced that it will deploy modern technology to tackle the erosion scourge in the Sangana community in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The visit came few days after NatureNews revealed in its recent report on erosion in Bayelsa Community, how the NDDC had abandoned shoreline protection project in Sangana and some other Communities in Bayelsa State.

Though the Managing Director of NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, said the intervention was a response to President Bola Tinubu’s directive for urgent action to ameliorate the sufferings of the people, the swift response may not be unconnected with the report.

In the report, one of the interviewees and frontline environmentalist, Morris Alagoa, revealed the shoreline protection project in Sangana community embarked by the NDDC was abandoned and that waves of water were encroaching into the community, thus threatening the lives of the people.

He said: “Sangana also in Brass local government area, few days ago, was in the news because videos from the community came, very alarming where even the abandoned NDDC project in the community, where concrete columns have been sunk into the ground and still taller than me, that we thought will be shoreline protection, in the video I saw where the waves were going over those columns. That is a very severe case, ocean surge, and the people are also crying out long ago for shoreline protection.

“Unfortunately, the communities where NDDC had also awarded shoreline protection, none of them has been completed. You go to Nembe Bassambiri, it’s done not even up to half, but the work is done. You go to Ogbolomabiri, not up to half, the concrete columns are there, heaped at the waterside, abandoned. You go to Olugbobiri in Southern Ijaw local government area, you know these contractors, one person will get and sell to another person.

“Olugbobiri is supposed to have shoreline protection and land reclamation, but if you go there, no sign. Not many community people will be able to tell you that there is a project like that, yet I have documents to show the NDDC has been releasing certain amounts of money for all these projects yearly.

“You go to Opume in Ogbia local government, it is there in the books of NDDC that shoreline protection contract is awarded and they are paying certain money, but that is a complete ghost contract, because neither the CDC, youth leadership or the chiefs, was aware that the community has such thing. They tell you, “go look the waterside now whether anything dey like that. We no know as you dey come to tell us now na him we dey hear o”. These are all things that are there.”

In the report, Alagoa called on other Federal government agencies such as the Ecological Fund to also intervene in such projects, pointing out that the problem was beyond state government capacity.