By Yemi Olakitan
An enormous amount of property worth billions of naira is under danger due to erosion on the Oba axis of the Onitsha-Owerri Motorway in Nigeria.
The erosion has already cut through the Federal Highway’s Owerri-bound carriageway and is now threatening the second lane. It has also come quite close to a petrol station and a hotel in the area.
The Anambra State Government has already blocked off the dangerous section of the road, shifting the entire strain to the second lane, which is about to collapse.
If immediate action is not done to stop the gully erosion threat, the well-known Rojenny Stadium and Games village, which has a football surface with a seating capacity of roughly 30,000, could also collapse.
On Saturday, September 2, 2023, some residents addressed the media and urged the federal government to intervene immediately and resolve the issue before it turns into an ecological disaster region.
Over 350 residential houses, acres of undeveloped land, a filling station, and a two-star hotel are all under danger due to gully erosion, according to Mr. Johny Obinwa, facility consultant at Rojenny Stadium.
Obinwa said that millions of dollars’ worth of facilities in Rojenny had been destroyed as a result of frequent flash floods from Ichi, Nnobi, Ojoto, and Uruagu-Oba.
He claimed that due to waterlogging, tennis and handball courts, portions of spectator stands, and perimeter walls around the stadium had all fallen. The tracks had also been removed.
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The flood that caused this gully erosion flows from Ichi, Nnobi Ojoto, and Uruagu-Oba settlements in Idemili South Local Government Area, according to Obinwa: “Our Olympic side swimming pool has overflowed. Additionally, it’s due to inadequate gutters and water channels.
“On our end, as management, we are doing all we can to lessen the calamity, but we need to do a lot of work to protect the sporting facilities that are in the Games Village, which is why it is crucial that the Federal and Anambra governments intervene.
“The erosion in the gully behind the stadium is accelerating and may soon completely wipe out the land, he claimed, and Rojenny is merely acting as a buffer for the neighbourhoods behind us.”
Speaking at the event, Mrs. Amaka Obi, the Chairman of the Transition Committee for Idemili South Local Government Area, claimed that despite the state government’s attempts to minimise the gully erosion threat, the problem had not subsided.
Mr. Uchechukwu Ubadi and Mr. Nzubechukwu Ibe, council members who represent Oba Wards I and II, respectively, served as representatives for Obi.
She claimed that the significant flood had caused all of the measures put in place thus far, including the water channels built roughly three months ago, to fail.
She also made note of the fact that local teenagers turned down a plan to fill the gully with trash when it was still in the planning stages by demanding a fee of N5,000 per trip.
“It wasn’t this broad and this deep when the state administration and their federal colleagues arrived, and as long as it rains, it will keep becoming wider.
“We asked the Anambra Waste Management Agency whether we could dump trash here to relieve the flow pressure, but the owners of the vacant property and the local youths objected, saying we were trying to seize their land. As a result, the trash was transported to another erosion site in Nnewi. Now that the gully has widened and more homes are collapsing every day due to the amount of rainfall, she bemoaned that “only God can save those buildings and their owners.”
