Residents of Oregbeni Community in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo, have appealed to Gov. Godwin Obaseki to come to their aid over the devastating effect of gully erosion in the area.
The erosion has caused a section of the 2km Obaseki St. to cave in with deep gully.
The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that the community made the appeal for help to reclaim and restructure the street during a media tour of the area on Wednesday.
The Secretary of the landlords of Obaseki Street, Mr Bello Imasuen, who spoke on the erosion challenge, said several houses and lives had been lost to the effect of the gully that started in the 90s.
He said that not even the self-help initiative of the residents of the street through palliative measures to mitigate the destructive effect of the erosion had reduced the destruction caused by the gully.
The Septuagenarian stressed that unless the government came to their rescue, more damage would be recorded by the residents.
“I have lived here for over 25 years now and I am afraid that the houses some of us have suffered to build may be lost to the menace of erosion gully.
“As you can see, some houses are already gone and only last July, precisely on the 24th, a boy of 12 was washed off by the erosion.
“This problem did not just start today, but in the 90s and we have written series of letters to successive governments in the state including the present, Godwin Obaseki.
“I dare say that Obaseki responded positively to the one written to him by not only sending a team of experts to carry out an assessment of the problem, but to also work out the cost implication.”
Imasuen said that the residents of the Obaseki Street had resorted to taking longer route to access their houses because of the effect of the erosion.
