Day 3: The Pushback at Gully Erosion

Leaders are judged by their response to the dominant issues of their time. The menace of gully erosion has been a lingering nightmare to Ndi Anambra for ages. How did Governor Willie Obiano react to this threat to the people’s peace of mind?

Well...come with me.

From a period stretching beyond the vast reaches of memory, Anambra State has been plagued by the corrosive menace of gully erosion. To many communities across the state, the rainy season comes with a mix bag of pleasure and pain. For the rain that nourishes farmlands for crops to grow also washes away homes, livelihoods and large swathes of history when it suddenly turns into storm water and races through fragile soil surfaces with deadly velocity.

Researchers claim that gully erosion became a living nightmare in Anambra State when the first deep gullies appeared in Nanka in 1850. Today, Anambra is riddled with over 900 gully erosion sites. Successive administrations have struggled to stem the dangerous tide of this menace. But it would seem that the more efforts are made, the more the gully sites multiply. With over 900 gully erosion sites Anambra is probably the most ecologically devastated location in West Africa. This grim reality had led to repeated calls by Governor Willie Obiano, for Anambra to be declared an “Ecologically Endangered State.”

Governor Obiano did not stop at the call for Anambra to be declared an “ecologically endangered state.” In fact, he took bold steps to confront the menace by setting up the Anambra offices of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), shortly after he was sworn in as governor. He also quickly provided the necessary counterpart funding to enable the project take-off immediately. The results were amazing. Headed by ebullient Project Coordinator, Engr Mike Ivenso, Anambra NEWMAP had turned the tears of so many folks displaced by gully erosion to cheers.

Through a combination of grit, focus and a cold resolve to make a difference, Anambra NEWMAP has left indelible footmarks across Anambra State, once frightening gully erosion sites like the St Thomas Aquinas/Nero Plaza, Awka, the Amachalla Site, Awka, the New Heritage/Omagba Site, Onitsha, the Ekwueme Square/Federal Secretariat Complex, Awka, the Uga Amuma Site in Obosi, the Ikenga Ogidi site, the Enugwu-Ukwu site, the Abidi Umuoji Site, the Nkpor Flyover Site, the Nnewichi Site, the Ojoto Site, the Ire Obosi Site and the Abagana Site. There are also the Nkisi Aroli Site, the Ezinifite Site and then the most dreaded of them all; the 100-Foot Road site in Nnewi which once threatened to swallow the famous Nkwo Market which is the leading auto spare parts market in Nigeria.

Indeed, the Obiano administration had tackled the threat of gully erosion in a bold and pragmatic manner that would serve as a benchmark to future administrations. For instance, under Obiano’s watch, the fight against erosion was combative and humane. People who were whimsically uprooted by the menace were quickly reintegrated back to society under the Livelihood Support Scheme of the fight back. In essence, it was not only eroded landscapes that are resuscitated through bio-remediation but broken lives were also healed with large sums of money that would help residents whose homes and businesses were swept away by erosion to find their economic feet again. This component of the fight against gully erosion had enriched many lives and turned the proverbial gnashing of teeth to songs of praises for the Obiano administration.

Another aspect of the fight back is the establishment of a Road Design Committee by the Anambra State Government. This is because research has shown that most of the gully erosion sites across the state were caused by poorly terminated drainages. The Road Design Committee was set up to ensure that all drainages from road projects across the state were properly terminated in nearby streams or natural waterways. That move took care of future threats to the environment from roads built without attention to proper channeling of water.

Yet another masterstroke of the Obiano administration is the successful establishment of Anambra State Erosion, Watershed and Climate Change Agency tackle the threat of gully erosion on a permanent basis. The Agency is the state’s response to clear and present threats to its delicate ecology in a structured and sustainable way. With an institution like this, Governor Willie Obiano has shown himself as a strategic thinker who had a deep understanding of the threat of gully erosion to Ndi Anambra and knew exactly what to do to solve the problem.

God bless Gov. Obiano

He tried

He's not like his mates in the north who only knows how to support killer Bandits with cash and stuffing the pockets of their parachute with state owned thousands of dollars.

[s]

DrGoodman:
God bless Gov. Obiano

He tried

He's not like his mates in the north who only knows how to support killer Bandits with cash and stuffing the pockets of their parachute with state owned thousands of dollars.

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Say no to tribalism