Landlords of Akpan Eton Street, Uyo, including retirees who worked in government establishments have relocated from their homes as a result of the erosion menace devastating the area. They pleaded for Governor Udom Emmanuel’s intervention.
Our Correspondent gathered that over 10 buildings have been affected by the erosion menace.
Investigation also reveals that buildings located between Ikpa and Urua Ekpa roads the street which serve as link road from the College of Science, Afaha Oku and Atiamkpat, off Ikpa Road with a thick population mainly staff of the University of Uyo, Cornellia Cornelly College (CCC) and Uyo City Polytechnic.
In a letter titled:” Save Our Souls” and made available to our Correspondent in Uyo on Tuesday, residents of the area appealed to Governor Udom Emmanuel to extend the ongoing intervention gestures along Ikpa Road to the area.
The residents of the area who have acknowledged Governor Udom Emmanuel’s humane disposition towards the plights of the people, as demonstrated by ongoing ecological interventions in various parts of the state regretted that requests for help from previous administrations could not yield any positive results.
The letter signed by community leaders namely Mr Titus Jerome Udoh and Hon Ekong Archibong Asuquo lamented that while many buildings had already been submerged by the erosion while others were on the verge of collapse.
“We want to use this medium to humbly appeal that you please save our souls from a gully erosion which is eaten deep into our buildings, some of which had already caved in”
“Your Excellency, some of us are retired Civil Servants with children and our only asset is our house, now faced with the threat of being washed off at every rainy moment. You can imagine what life has become for some of us”.
“It may quite dishearten to see many Akwa Ibom families lose their homes, as we fear the entire street may not survive this rainy season”
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“In the interim, some of us who are badly threatened have had to relocate our families to safe areas until the erosion and the fast encroaching gully would have been taken care of”. The letter read
Udoh, a retiree whose fence collapsed into the gully in 2021 said he decided to temporarily relocate to save his dear wife who had developed health complications due to constant dread of the situation.
Narrating their ordeal, a member of the community, Mr Kufre Daniel explained that the area was excavated as a borrow pit and later abandoned by a construction company that was awarded a World Bank erosion control project in the area some years back.
He regretted that the pit which gradually grew, with heavy floods coming into it from Urua Ekpa, later expanded, unattended to and began to swallow up buildings some 15 years ago.
He also recounted sad incidences of humans who have lost their lives around the area, including one of the residents who mistakenly slipped into the gully while attempting to flee from some wild dogs in the neighbourhood.
While applauding the ongoing intervention works on Ikpa Road, the youth however expressed concerns that water rushing out of the area may still pose a threat to the main Ikpa Road as it would continue to flood the area if not properly channelled.
“The state government is sinking so much on the ongoing intervention works on Ikpa Road, but we may still have to battle with gullies if the volume of water coming in from Urua Ekpa through the gully at Akpan Eton, down to Atiamkpat and empties into the ravine by Nabor Street is not properly channelled.
“This proper channelling is very important because the entire right-hand side of Ikpa Road from the University of Uyo is bounded by a ravine that must not be allowed to cross into the other side of the road,
“Therefore every issue of flood, gullies, poorly terminated gutters and the rest need to be duly addressed to save both sides of the road from future collapse”. He said
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