Residents evacuated as gully erosion threatens buildings, lands in Aba

Many residents of Ovom street in Aba, Abia State, have either been evacuated by the Abia state government or fled the area themselves, as gully erosion worsened in the area.

The deadly erosion, which started in small proportions some years ago, has now cut the road into two and resulted in the collapse of many buildings and destruction of other landed property in the area.

Addressing the press on Sunday after visiting the devastated area, Abia State Governor, Alex Otti described the situation as unfortunate, lamenting that that erosion challenge has dealt a deadly blow to the area.

He expressed worry that if not controlled immediately, the rampant erosion will not only affect all buildings around the area but may affect the opposite side of the road where an ongoing road project is presently being executed by his administration.

Otti instructed the General Manager of Greater Aba Development Agency (GASA), Mr Uche Ukeje to immediately bring solutions to the problem in a few weeks’ time.

He assured the people that the job of tackling the problem would not be done through direct labour but by engineers and contractors who understand what to do.

On the conditions of residents of the affected area, Otti explained that he had instructed GASA to evacuate those living around there.

“I had asked him to evacuate everybody that is living around here.

“So, if you look around these houses, there is nobody in there. Those who are very close here, I had already gotten them evacuated.

“So, I hope nobody goes back to some of these buildings because it’s very dangerous”, he stated.