Fides Media Living the Faith
By Ifeoma Ezenyilimba
Nigerian Federal House of Representatives siting on Tuesday, September 17, 2019, has passed a unanimous motion for an urgent government intervention on the 13 major erosion menace threatening the people of Aguata L.G.A of Anambra State.
The Federal House on the Motion which was sponsored by the member representing Aguata Federal Constituency, Hon Chukwuma Umeoji, noted that Aguata Local Government Area, had 13 active erosion sites that had already eaten up people’s house and farmlands, posed threats to human lives and roads and turned people refugees in their own land.
According to the Motion, the said erosion sites in need of urgent federal government attention in Aguata L.G.A were Umumonye – Umueze, Uga; Umuchiana -Ekwulobia; Umuoru, Uga; Ezionye-Aku, Aguku-Ezinifite; Umugama-Umuchu; Ogu Osete-Umuchu; Amaokalanwa, Umueleke-Achina; Umuezeiyi -Achina; Ifite-Aguluezechukwu; Umumono-Igboukwu; Uhuala-Agbaenu-Igweakwu, Akpo; Ogbugwunaezi-Enugwu-Umuonyia and Nkgologwu.
The National Assembly through the Motion that got a unanimous vote on the Floor of the House, urged the Ecological Fund Office to, urgently intervene with a view of solving the erosion problem, and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to send relief materials to the victims of the erosion.
Pointing out that the destruction caused by the erosion in the rainy season had been unbearable, the House mandated its Committee on Environment to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Environment, and ensure the provision of funds in the 2020 Budget to address the erosion menace.
This was even as the National Assembly further urged the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to, undertake palliative measures on the Achina-Onneh-Ogboji Road of Aguata and Orumba South Local Government Areas of Anambra State, which had already been cut off by the erosion.
The Motion was referred to the House Committee on Environment, pursuant to Order Eight, Rule 9(5).
Earlier, while presenting the Motion on the Floor of the House, the member representing Aguata Federal Constituency, Hon Chukwuma Umeoji, regretted that many of his constituents have been rendered homeless, turned into refugees in their own land, lost property worth millions, including ancestral inheritance due to the deadly erosion menace.
The legislator lamented that most of the erosion sites, like the deep one of Umumonye, Umueze-Uga, were situated in dense populated areas of the affected communities. Umeoji appealed to the Federal government to declare a state of emergency in the erosion sites, as according to him, if no action is taken urgently, the communities might be submerged by erosion.