Hope of resettlement of residents affected by gully erosion in Uyo, the state capital of Akwa Ibom State is dimming as the N50 million counterpart funding paid by the state government to World Bank is inadequate.
Alhaji Salisu Dahiru, National Project Coordinator of NEWMAP, who stated this Thursday at the formal launch/flag-off of Akwa Ibom State NEWMAP along Urua Udofia Street, Uyo, said the N50 million paid by Akwa Ibom government was “tangential to relocation of residents affected by the menace.”
Dahiru, who represented Dr. Amos Abu, Task Team Leader of World Bank and NEWMAP, appealed to the state government to pay the N500 million counterpart funds it has approved for the control of gully erosion in the city.
Governor Udom Emmanuel thanked the various stakeholders for selecting Uyo, the host city for the launching of NEWMAP, and pledged to partner different agencies in the control of gully erosion in the state and in the state capital.
Emmanuel, represented by Mr. Moses Ekpo, the state deputy governor, said NEWMAP marked one in a series of interventionist projects to be undertaken and completed by the state government, and called on the benefitting communities to ensure sustainability of the project.
He assured World Bank that the state government would pay its counterpart funding to enable many communities affected by gully erosion benefit from the NEWMAP project.
Dr. Iniobong Essien, Commissioner for Environment and Mineral Resources, said gully erosion has continued to pose an increasing threat to the state’s environment with the destruction of agricultural lands in virtually all parts of the state.
Essien pledged the state government’s determination to adopt a multifarious approach that combining civil engineering, vegetative land management and other catchment protection measures offered by NEWMAP to curb the menace.
He stated that the government has documented more than 1,000 critical erosion sites with aerial photographs and coordinates across the 31 local government areas of the state, putting the cost of controlling the sites at more than N150 billion.
StraightNews gathered that in the past few years, many residents of Anua, Urua Udofia, Etim Umana, Afang Ekpe and Udo Inwang Streets, among others in Uyo metroplis have been displaced by erosion menace.
The newspaper carried out an investigation and reported in one of its editions that the menace has swallowed many houses, farmlands and economic trees while other houses at the brink of being swept away by the menace.
