By Chimezie Anaso
Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra has urged he Federal Government to urgently intervene and fix the collapsed portion of the Oba axis of the Onitsha-Owerri express way.
Mr Christian Aburime, Press Secretary to Soludo said the governor made the call when he visited the failed portion of the road that had been cut off due to massive gully erosion activity.
The governor who was represented by Mr Earnest Ezeajughi, his Chief of Staff, said the state government was acting on an emergency basis because it could not wait for the Federal government’s response.
He said that Anambra was grappling with over 1,000 active gully erosion sites and that the one on the highway was one of the numerous sites begging for attention in the state.
“We are appealing to the Federal government to quickly intervene and save this road from total collapse,” Ezeajughi said.
Mr Ifeanyi Okomma, the state Commissioner for Works, described the erosion as huge.
Okomma said that Anambra government had arrested the situation and stopped further progression through its palliative intervention.
According to him, we have achieved the first objective, the second objective is to stop further erosion slide as we await the Federal government.
On his part, the Commissioner for Environment, Dr Felix Odimegwu, said erosion was an existential threat in the state and called for increased ecological funding.
He said the state government had been carrying out palliatives to check the damage being done by gully erosion and called for Federal assistance.(NAN)
