FG TASKED ON ECOLOGICAL CONTROL IN ABAK

...As Aniekan Umanah takes case to NASS

Residents of Abak Urban whose farmlands, residences and means of livelihood are threatened by the ravaging menace of erosion may soon find reprieve; as the National Assembly on Tuesday, directed relevant agencies of the federal government, including the Federal Ministry of Works, FERMA and the Ecological Fund Office, to urgently intervene and salvage the already troubling situation.

The directive was contained in the proceedings of June 13, 2019, of the House of Representatives, sequel to a debate on a motion of urgent public importance brought before the house on the need to address the age long ecological problem in various parts of the country.

Describing the violent nature of the gully attack in the area, Hon. Umanah while recounting its damaging effect said some communities were already inaccessible, while others have lost their streams, cultural relics, ancestral homes and social infrastructures like schools and hospitals to the ecological crisis.

Tracing the erosion menace to the civil war era, the Federal Lawmaker, while drawing attention to the urgency of the situation warned that the condition if left unchecked would be counterproductive to the ongoing work on the Abak-Ikot Abasi Road, handled by the federal government, as the current rainy season may not spare the Abak part of the road.

He assured of his constituents cooperation with measures that would enhance safe erosion rehabilitation and control, noting that such gesture will engender socioeconomic advancement and boost productivity of his people.