From Fawaz Muhammad
The Auchi Sacred Kingdom is facing perennial threats from soil erosion. The town which is the headquarters of the Afenmai people of Edo State is subjected to the ravages of gullies from several fronts.
Erosion induced gullies are turning homeowners into tenants in Auchi Kingdom and the residents are helpless and waiting on God to come to their aid as there seem to be endless solutions in sight.
Buildings, road pavements, electric poles and farmlands have been lost to these gullies. If something is not done urgently, Auchi and its environs will be swept into oblivion by these menacing gullies.
Residents, environmental activists, and other concerned bodies have raised alarm severally and individually at the pace with which the gully erosion is threatening Auchi town.
When the Adams Oshiomhole led administration informed the Edo public in the past that a holistic ecological mapping of Edo State was conducted and that the world bank’s collaboration was sought and obtained by the government as part of the efforts to find a lasting solution to the problem of soil erosion in the State, the people saw it as a welcome development.
Irrespective of the efforts of the Edo state government in the past to curb the ravaging “Udeye” which has been a nightmare for the residents of Auchi, the gully has given rise to several appendages which have combined to swallow up the community should an urgent solution not come from the Edo State government.
The project for the sand filling of the “Udeye” and construction of drains to channel stormwater to the river Orle ended halfway at the brook, “Ayéda Aminu”. That job was awarded to Setraco by the Oshiomhole administration.
That was the same point to which the Ambrose Alli administration stopped the project in the past and from where it returned with utmost ferocity to the town, sweeping and consuming every structure on its path.
No sooner had the “Udeye” project been awarded and the project executed than the threat from erosion became more ferocious as if the forces of nature are hapless that they were not consulted by humans in the bid to keep them at bay and make their impact less felt and had so, sworn to punish the community for such disobedience.
A social critic Aliu S. Momodu observed that Auchi was wriggling like a worm kept by the fire, looking discomfited and helpless whenever a downpour was imminent.
The “Udeye” is a confluence of soil erosion flowing from Akharhumhua, Igbei, Aibotse, Akpekpe, Utsogun and parts of Iyekhei. The network of connecting drains with the “Udeye” had, in the past, often been overwhelmed during heavy downpours and this further aggravated the environmental impact of erosion.
Years after the “Udeye” project has been constructed, the flowing “waters” resulting from every downpour in Auchi yield an eclectic bounty of ravaged buildings, roads, electric poles, house utensils and many other kinds of stuff which are swept away during heavy rainstorms. Human lives are not spared by the rushing stream of stormwater.
Governor Godwin Obaseki Administration of Edo State has in the last four years stepped up its efforts to rescue the people through maintenance and reconstruction work of the drains at the National filling station where the storm drains from Akpekpe, Iyetse and Iyekhei meet, in its bid to ameliorate the lingering problem of the poorly done erosion project.
The massive engineering road and erosion project of the administration especially in the Igbe and Iyetse axis of Auchi town in collaboration with some national and international organizations is an excellent testimony to that.
Apart from the “Udeye” and its appendages, many other big gullies have sprung up and require urgent attention from the Edo State Government. The gruesome experience of the Udeye will be a child’s play if nothing is done to curtail them.
It is worthy of note that some of the roads constructed recently by the Godwin Obaseki led administration in Auchi are without side drains and are yearning sharply for drains to avoid being swept away by rushing floods.
Moreso, many residents of Auchi metropolis are not helpful in any bid to curb the menacing threats of erosion. A lot of such residents no longer take proper disposal of refuse that they generate in their houses, shops or markets.
They pile up such refuse waiting for any slight opportunity for rain to fall so that they can deposit the refuse into drains and this, quite often, leads to obstruction of the free flow of stormwater in the drains.
This, Enaholo J.K. has shown to the public via posts and livestreams on AUCHI BLOGspot in a bid to bring ravaging gullies to public notice and to right the ugly trend of refuse dumping in drainages.
As a solution, laws should be enacted to criminalize depositing of refuse in drains; every resident of Auchi should be vigilant so that such culprits are aptly identified and prosecuted; a second phase of the “Udeye” project should be awarded by the state or federal government to discharge stormwater directly to river Orle; all the appendages of the main gully and other gullies at the water board, watertanker and Iyekhei/Aviele Road which is threatening to cut off the road needs urgent attention as delay they say is dangerous.
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