For 30 years huge gullies had been forming in Auchi, Edo State, and the town was once described as an ‘earthquake zone’ on account of the gullies, and the crippling effect these had on its economy. These gullies, some of which attained epical depths of 35 metres, destroyed houses, consumed farmlands, split roads and gave rise to hypertension and insomnia among the people, while also triggering waves of migration out of Auchi. But today, radiant sunshine has fallen upon Auchi and its people who dwell in a valley, for a major turnaround is occuring in this Etsako speaking community, as a contract worth N5.7bn has been awarded to check the menace of gully erosion in the town, and this is a World Bank/Edo State government initiative which will be completed in 24 months, so says Engineer Amin Tawk of Setraco, who adds that 27% of the work has already been completed.
The happiness in Auchi can be felt and the townspeople speak of a new cycle of life starting for them. This is really a sea change from the nightmare of the past 30 years when the gullies formed and swallowed everything and anything in their path. Alhaji Aliru Momoh, the Otaru of Auchi once led a demonstration in Auchi as a reaction to governments poor response to checking the gullies in the town. He has also written countless letters and travelled to Abuja and Benin many times to make a case for government to act quickly and save Auchi from the gullies. He says that the gullies had already formed as far back as 1982 and that a long list of contractors, some of them incompetent and lacking necessary skills, had been brought over the years to tackle the gullies. On the demonstration, he says “In 2006 we had to demonstrate and we closed the Benin-Abuja expressway. I led the demonstration because I didn’t want the youths to destroy things as we went along, and that would have been more costly. The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese also joined us on the occasion.”
He outlines a history of various efforts to get the gullies tackled “It was Nigercat in 1982 who first worked on the little bit of erosion that was growing at that time. Much later the government of Lucky Igbinedion said that the state government could not do anything about erosion, and this was between 1999 and 2007.But earlier we had written to the federal government over the erosion menace. Abubakar Momoh who was in the house of representatives at a point, twice moved a motion over the problem. On one occasion the erosion project was estimated at the sum of 1.6 billion Naira.” He also laments the weak and inefficient contractors who were sometimes brought to tackle the gullies.
According to him “You now have a situation where people who don’t have the financial, or human skills are now left to do the job. When we heard of this, we objected to it.” Many of such contractors collected huge sums to tackle the erosion menace, but they never delivered. He also referred to one company which was paid 600 million Naira to tackle the gullies, but nothing came of it.”
Paulosa was another company which did good work at Auchi, and this was during the IBB regime. According to the Otaru “He was the first person under the regime to attempt to do the work after Nigercat.”
Very soon it was discovered that the World Bank had released the sum of $20 m to tackle the Auchi and Ede erosion sites in Edo State. According to the royal father “The government of Edo State at the time was given a release of $9 m out of the $20m earmarked for the project.” In this case, as in many others,no work was done either at Ede or at the Auchi erosion site.He provides some enlightenment “In 1999 the PTF under General Muhammadu Buhari had awarded a contract for 19 roads in Auchi to be tackled by a contractor, Dantata & Sawoe. But they could not mobilise to site, before General Olusegun Obasanjo came and dissolved the PTF. Thats how it fizzled out. Between that time and now many things had happened to the roads,and many ended up as gullies. But if the roads had been done as far back as 1999, we wouldn’t have had such huge gullies which later formed. So, people should not be surprised that I am so dedicated to Buhari who still has a plan for Auchi.”
But help was not far off, for the World Bank visited again sometime in 2013. Alhaji Aliru Momoh says “In 2013 the World Bank came back to the Auchi and Ede erosion sites, and we now started discussing. They also did a survey and took more photographs of the site.Finally, Setraco was given the contract of N 5.7bn to arrest the gullies. The Edo State government contributed 400 million Naira for the settlement of displaced persons, as well as payment for properties and so on.The contract was awarded in March this year to Setraco and they started work. It is a World Bank/Edo State government project.”
Engr Tawk speaks on the Auchi project which has a total of 160 men, including expatriates who work 8 hours a day, 6 days every week “our operations started in February this year, and our commencement date was may. That was when we received our advance payment, but actually we started the work before we received the payment.”
He adds that the project is divided into three phases “It is divided into three phases. Phase 1 is gully 1. This is the biggest gully which includes some ancillary roads around it and some small gullies as well. Then gully 2, gully 6 and 7 are the next lot, and they make up phase 2. Phase 3 itself is the main gully. This is the farthest section of the township area, and this will be tackled by the end of the upper dry season. The contract period is 24 moths and we have already achieved 27% of it.”
He says that the weather is an important factor in the work of tackling the gullies. His words “We always concentrate on the major work during the dry period, let me say from October to May, and from May to October we concentrate on the small works like small drains, and all the areas where we can work freely, where the rains don’t affect us too much.”
He adds that there is a projected afforestation area which is part of phase 3 “We have already prepared the nursery for the cashew nuts,and hopefully by the next dry season, we will be planting those trees. We will plant 4,000 cashew trees on a total of 40 hectares.”
He speaks on the advantage of planting cashew trees in the area “Like any other tree,the roots spread out, and all the leaves fall on the ground, making the water spread out over a wide area. The advantage is that the speed of water will reduce and the roots will hold the soil firmly and prevent erosion.”
He adds that the Auchi erosion project is the second such project for the company in Edo State. “The first was the erosion site at Jattu which was not as big as this one. We performed well with that one. Now, we have this one which is bigger, and already the client is delighted, and hopefully, we are going to tackle many of such in the future.”
Engr Bello Momoh, MD Royal Dream Hotel, Mararaba, Abuja and Yamah Auchi, speaks joyfully of the change which work on the erosion site has generated “I don’t know how to express my feelings to Adams Oshiomhole. I know that the Otaru has made great efforts in this regard. You know our soil is alluvial soil and it is very weak. With any little rain, you will see the whole thing collapsing. So, now we can sleep with our two eyes closed. If not, by now the erosion would have reached even my own house. We were all scared on account of the gullies,but now we are happy. The contractors are doing a good job there. I have seen good concrete work that has already been done around the gullies. We thank the Almighty, and we also thank Governor Oshiomhole.”
Speaking in a similar vein, Jim Momoh states “We are grateful to Adams Oshiomhole who made several efforts to see that the erosion matter is tackled. We, the Auchi people are happy about it,because after many years of suffering without governments intervention, now the government has come to our aid and compensation has been paid to many landlords who lost many houses. This will bring a lot of development to the town.”
Gaz Momoh exclaims “Work has started and it looks nice. We are very happy with the work Governor Oshiomhole has started. He is one of the brains behind everything. The former president refused to shoulder the responsibility of checking the erosion. It was a bitter story which lasted for so long. We couldn’t do anything other than to pray. We were all very happy when the project was flagged off early this year.It was a very happy day for all of us.” He anticipates a rosy future for Auchi “Auchi will be a very beautiful place. When the erosion lingered the town was in disarray, and people fled from their homes.Now,that the site is being rehabilitated, many are coming back and restoring their structures. We anticipate a social and economic turnaround in Auchi.”
Mrs Rashidatu Isah lives on Ini Umoru street in Auchi, a street which in a sense hosted a huge gully, which is now being checked by the contractor. Her words “we feel good now. Before, the gullies were very bad and we could not sleep in the night whenever it rained. This is because some houses used to collapse while it was raining. Then, we used to leave our houses to sleep elsewhere, and in the morning we will return. We are happy with the work being done by the contractor. In the past businesses didn’t do well, because many people had fled. So, there was no money as goods were not being sold. But now trading has improved and many people are returning to our street.”
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