The senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Senator Victor Umeh, has called on the federal government to declare his senatorial zone an ecological disaster zone, following the menace of erosion and flooding in the zone.
Parts of Awka, the capital city of Anambra State, have recently experienced severe flooding and erosion devastation as a result of torrential rainfall. These have led to the death by drowning of a six-year-old schoolboy and the caving in of about three houses into an erosion gully, displacing their occupants.
The senator made the call at the weekend when he visited the family of the drowned schoolboy and the scene of erosion devastation where houses caved into gullies.
Umeh said: “I feel sad that Anambra Central Senatorial District is under serious erosion menace and flooding. I was in Obosi and Ogidi in Idemili area just weeks back to see the devastation of flood and erosion. This time, it is Awka, the capital of Anambra State. It is sad that all the local governments in my senatorial district are experiencing flood and erosion devastation.
“All the buildings around here are under threat, these ones right behind me have already collapsed and part of the other one has also collapsed. This gully is a long stretch and I don’t know how we can be saved if not for the intervention of the federal government. I’m calling on the federal government for help.
“You have seen that the rain is still falling, what this means is that these people are under threat. This requires immediate attention from the government. There is need for remedial action to halt the continuous spread of this erosion at least in this area.
“The best thing for the federal government to do is to declare my senatorial district an ecological disaster zone, so that the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the ecological office will treat this as an emergency. Remedial work by the residents can no longer do anything.
“My motion on the Idemili North and South axis is already pending before the Senate, so when I get back, I will have to update that motion to include these ones so that the federal government will see what is happening in my senatorial district. We need help and we need federal government intervention in this matter.”
One of the victims, a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, AIG Celestine Okoye, called for help, saying that they now live in fear.
The senator also visited Mr and Mrs Ezenwafor, who lost their six-year-old child during a flood disaster on Tuesday. He consoled the couple over their loss.