Tackling erosion menace in Anambra

BY OBINNA ODOGWU

Anambra state is arguably the erosion capital of Africa, if not the world. As of today, the state reportedly has over 1,000 active erosion sites. The figure was around 950 as of April 2022, according to the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.

Soludo made the revelation during a roundtable meeting with the taskforce team of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) held at Bon Hotel, Awka, the state capital.

The team was in Anambra for a three-day workshop that centred on the organisation’s Additional Financing (AF) Implementation Completion and Result Report Mission (ICRM), which took place at the International Convention Centre in the capital city.

At the event, which drew participants from 22 other states of the federation with NEWMAP interventions, the governor lamented the devastating impacts of gully erosion in the state. Soludo was represented in the two events by his deputy, Onyekachukwu Ibezim.

Just a year later, the commissioner for environment, Felix Odimegwu, an engineer, revealed that erosion sites in the state had hit 1,000 based on his findings. He made the revelation while unveiling the state’s programme for the 2023 World Earth Day (WED) in Awka. While lamenting that Anambra was losing arable land to gully erosion, the commissioner revealed that new erosion sites were still emerging in the state.

From 2022 to 2025, available reports show that more erosion sites have emerged in various parts of the state.

Currently, a very deep gully is threatening the fence of Amanuke General Hospital, Amanuke in Awka North LGA of the state, as well as the family home of Humphrey Onyekomelu, which shares a boundary with it. In fact, if urgent action is not taken, both the hospital’s fence and the residential building may cave in anytime soon.

In Nnewi South, many communities in that LGA are currently battling erosion issues. The same applies to parts of Nnewi town in Nnewi North LGA.

Erosion sites in Agulu community, Anaocha LGA; Nanka and Oko communities in Orumba North LGA are still very much active. In fact, the trio is regarded as the headquarters of gully erosion in the state.

Erosion issues in the three communities are so severe that their residents reportedly spend each day in fear, not knowing when and where the next landslide will take place.

So far, scores of lives have been lost and properties worth several millions of Naira destroyed, even as farmlands and economic trees have been swept away.

The Federal Polytechnic, Oko, is under serious threat. Already, a part of the institution’s perimeter fence has been pulled down by a very deep gully, and some buildings near it are threatened.

In other parts of the state, there have been a series of reports about the devastating impacts of gully erosion.

There is hardly any community in the state that does not have its own share of erosion issues.

The environment commissioner lamented during NEWMAP’s workshop that over 70 per cent of the state’s land mass was reportedly at risk of gully erosion.

He said: “Anambra today is faced with an existential threat from the scourge of erosion; we are the state with the second highest population density in Nigeria and alongside that, we have the most active number of erosion sites.

“It’s being reported that circa 70% of the land in Anambra State is at risk of gully erosion. This is the precarious state we are in, with less than 3% of our erosion menace under control. We not only ask for more, but wish to charge NEWMAP and her funding partners to declare a state of emergency on Anambra’s erosion menace.”

Despite this sad condition of the state, some of its residents still engage in unwholesome practices that promote the development of new gully erosion sites and worsen the already existing ones.

Across many communities, incessant excavation of the soil surface is still going on. There is also the indiscriminate disposal of wastes, as well as the deliberate blockage of water channels by unscrupulous individuals.

These negative actions undermine the efforts currently being made by the state government to check gully erosion and its devastating impacts in the state, as well as the remedial work already done by NEWMAP.

The state government, under the firm leadership of Gov. Soludo, has spent and is still spending its scarce resources in efforts to reclaim lands taken by gully erosion.

There is, therefore, a need for the people to join hands with the government to prevent further deterioration of our environment and the emergence of new erosion sites in the state. Indiscriminate excavation of the soil surface must be stopped.

There is also a need for stringent laws and regulations to be made by the government, and, where necessary, to amend existing ones to protect our environment.

It is important that religious, traditional, and social organisations, as well as influential individuals in the state, lend their voices and support to the efforts being made by the state and federal governments to protect our environment and make it safe for everyone.

Odogwu writes via [email protected]