By Abbas Nazil
A rapidly worsening gully erosion is threatening the existence of Enugwu-Nanka community in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Community leaders complain that the erosion has continued to displace families, destroy homes and farmlands, and undermine socio-economic activities in the area.
Sending an urgent save-our-soul plea to the federal and state governments, they described the situation as critical, warning that failure to act swiftly could result in further loss of lives and properties worth billions of naira.
Chairman of the Enugwu-Nanka Erosion and Flood Control Committee, Chief Emmanuel Osele, disclosed that more than 200 families had already been displaced as a result of the advancing gullies.
He explained that several residential buildings had collapsed, while others remain dangerously close to the expanding erosion channels.
According to him, farmlands, access roads linking Enugwu-Nanka to neighbouring Amakor and Ubahu communities, and other critical infrastructure are also under serious threat.
Osele noted that residents and the community had embarked on various self-help measures to slow down the erosion, including tree planting, construction of drainage systems and digging of catchment pits.
He added that community leaders had consistently warned residents against indiscriminate tree cutting in erosion-prone areas, though compliance has remained low.
Despite these efforts, he said the erosion has continued to expand, overwhelming local interventions and exposing the limits of community-led responses.
Osele therefore called on both levels of government, as well as the World Bank and other environmental stakeholders, to urgently step in and implement lasting solutions.
A resident of the community, Nze Joshua Obinwa, whose house is currently under threat, described the erosion as a decades-long problem that has defied resolution.
The octogenarian lamented that many elderly residents had been forced to abandon their ancestral homes due to fear of sudden collapse caused by the erosion.
He stressed that the displacement has deep social and cultural implications for affected families.
Another community member, Mr. Alexander Nwafete, said the erosion had consumed more than 1,000 plots of land, dealing a severe blow to livelihoods and local economic activities.
He appealed to government authorities to urgently rescue residents from the growing dangers posed by the expanding gullies.
Meanwhile, the Vice Chairman of neighbouring Ubahu Village, Nze James Ezeilo, raised alarm over emerging erosion sites around the Uhuabor axis near the boundary between both communities.
He attributed the new erosion points to uncontrolled runoff from neighbouring areas.
Ezeilo urged government to take decisive and coordinated steps to prevent the situation from escalating further.
