By Ugochukwu Alaribe
UMUAHIA — The Igbo Community Association, Abuja, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene in the gully erosion crisis ravaging communities across the South-East.
The association said immediate Federal Government intervention was necessary to prevent further destruction of communities, protect lives and property, and restore hope to thousands of affected residents.
The President-General of the Igbo Community Association, Federal Capital Territory, Engr. Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, made the appeal at a stakeholders’ meeting on the erosion menace.
Ezenekwe expressed concern over the destruction of homes, livelihoods and communities across the region, particularly in Nanka, Anambra South Senatorial District, where advancing gullies have reportedly displaced families and threatened ancestral homes.
He said vulnerable residents, including children and the elderly, faced the risk of losing their homes if urgent measures were not taken.
“Many families, including vulnerable children and the elderly, are currently facing imminent displacement as their ancestral homes are threatened daily.
“They need their hopes renewed, and they need the Federal Government of Nigeria to come to their rescue immediately. We are appealing to President Tinubu to intervene urgently and save the people,” he said.
The association’s president-general argued that the scale of the erosion crisis exceeded the financial and technical capacity of individual state governments in the region.
“We acknowledge that the scale of gully erosion remediation is beyond the financial and technical capabilities of the five South-East state governors.
“The state governors can only proffer prophylactic solutions given their resource limitations. This is a capital-intensive environmental ecological disaster that falls within the powers and constitutional responsibilities of the Federal Government,” he said.
Seeks stronger SEDC intervention
To address the crisis, the association urged Tinubu to adequately fund and empower the newly established South-East Development Commission (SEDC) to coordinate erosion control and remediation projects across affected states.
It also proposed the establishment of a high-powered presidential committee to assess the extent of the damage and develop and implement a comprehensive, long-term remediation plan.
The group further called for international collaboration, urging the President to use Nigeria’s diplomatic relationships to secure technical expertise, development funding and other forms of assistance to address the environmental crisis.
It said coordinated action involving the Federal Government, the SEDC, state governments and international partners was needed to achieve lasting solutions to gully erosion in the South-East.
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