By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Residents at Dutse Sokale and Baupma under the Bwari Area Council, FCT, have shared their different experiences on how they have coped with living close to erosion sites.
The residents, who spoke to NatureNews penultimate Wednesday, said that the erosion affecting the road has caused their homes to be experiencing flood any time it rains.
The area, as gathered by our correspondent is currently suffering erosion and flooding.
Speaking to our correspondent, the residents lamented that noise pollution and erosion are housing challenges they are presently facing within the area.
“Sometimes when it rains the quantity of water that comes inside the house is something else. There was a day water entered the house and destroyed some of my properties,” said a resident living at Dutse Sokale.
Another resident said, “Erosion has destroyed the roads here, it’s hard for people to visit me here with a car and I can’t dream of having one now because of gully erosion.
“Anytime the rain falls, I have to look for another route to access where I live.”
Also visiting another area, Dutse Baupma, residents complain of how water flowing from a river located at the bridge along Obasanjo road will encroach their houses when it rains.
They also complained of how millipedes, leeches, scorpions and other insects invade their homes during the raining season.
Our correspondent also made efforts to speak to the Chief of the community but as at the time of filing this report , the Chief was yet to respond to calls.
It is not a hidden fact that Dutse, a community that is accommodating a lot of government schools, was planned to be the proposed site for the Federal Capital Territory Zoo.
However, this area has since been the abode of so many persons, making some to believe that the proposed plan by the government to turn it to a zoo is a mirage.
When asked on whether they are aware that most of them are living in an environment not approved for residential purposes by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, a resident said, “Since I started living in this place, I have been hearing that Dutse was marked to be a zoo. But I have stayed here for 10 years living in a house I built and I haven’t seen their plans come through.
“The government cannot just displace residents like that because they ought to be proper compensation and besides I’m living in a native land.”
They however, called on the attention of the government to intervene in resuscitation the environment.
The Nigeria gully erosion crisis has been ongoing since before 1980, and affects communities large and small.
Since September 2013, Nigeria’s federal government has been receiving support from the World Bank to carry out remedial measures in erosion-affected states under the eight-year, $500-million Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project.
But much more work remains to be done. In October 2019, Nigeria’s minister of state for the environment, Sharon Ikeazor, said federal authorities could declare a state of emergency on erosion.
“The major challenge now is how to stop other areas from being taken away while we fight to recover areas that are severely damaged,” said erosion expert Opara. The government should hire only “reputable contractors” and ensure reliable environmental impact assessments are done before actual construction work, she said.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) urged residents of the South-East to plant trees to checkmate the menace of erosion within the zone.
The South-East Coordinator of NEMA, Mr James Eze, gave the advice in Enugu, Enugu State, on Friday, June 4, 2021.
Eze spoke against the background of World Environment Day held every June 5 globally to create awareness on environmental issues and best environmental practices.
He called on residents in erosion-prone communities to stop cutting down trees.
According to Eze, residents should plant more trees in such communities to check erosion due to lack of natural soil binder such as trees and vegetation.
On of Nigeria’s largest gully erosion site is located in Nanka, Anambra state at 66 metres deep, 2,900 metres long and 349 metres wide, according to a recent study in the American Journal of Geographic Information System.