Gully erosion threatens Wadata community

Residents of Wadata community in Abaji Area Council are now living in fear of a gully erosion that seems set to swallow up their homes.
The deep gully created by the erosion is getting closer to houses which now sit precariously on the edge.
Some residents of the area, who spoke to our reporter, said any time there was torrential rainfall, their fear for their homes heightened.
They said they felt trapped since they did not have anywhere to move to.
The chairman of Wadata community, Alhaji Adamu Gana Ebagi, who conducted Aso Chronicle to the erosion site, said over 200 houses were currently facing the danger of being swallowed up, while some had already collapsed as a result of the erosion.
He said he had to lead a delegation of some elders and other residents of the area to intimate the Ona of Abaji, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, about how the gully erosion was threatening their houses.
He said the monarch assured the community that he would channel the problem to the FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, to see how he could intervene.
“In fact, we can no longer sleep with two of our eyes closed since the gully erosion has continued to get worse by the day.
“I had to lead a delegation of some elders and residents to the Ona of Abaji, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, who assured us that he would present the matter directly to the FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, for necessary action,” he said.
He said the community had also written a letter to the management of the Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA), a copy of which was sent to the chairman of the council, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya, of the danger facing residents of the community.
He said the council chairman visited the site last week, when he told residents in the area that the erosion was beyond the capability of the council, but promised to channel it before the FCT minister.
Also speaking, a former vice chairman of the council, Alhaji Usman Idris Mawogi, who resides in the area, told Aso Chronicle that the erosion had become a source of concern to the Wadata community.
He said not long ago, some officials of the FCDA visited the site twice but lamented that nothing has happened so far.
He said there was need for the government to immediately tackle the erosion before it wreaked more havoc in the community.
He added that the erosion also posed a threat to lives of children who went there to dump refuse and excrete, saying children had on different occasions fallen inside the gully, dislocating or even fracturing parts of their bodies.
 “And as you can see, all theContinued from previous page

people that reside in this area always come to dump refuse here and children excrete there too. And whenever it rains, the water will carry all the trash to the stream from which some residents fetch water to drink. This  in turn affects their health,” he said.
He, however, recalled that an attempt was made some years ago, by the FCT administration to address the erosion problem but that the construction work was later washed away by flood. He said since then nobody had been there again to assess the situation.
He also said the residents tried using sandbags to protect their lands but that whenever it rained heavily, the bags were washed away.
He said controlling the erosion was beyond the capacity of the residents and the area council.
 The former vice chairman, therefore, appealed to the FCT minister to come to the aid of the residents of the community in tackling the erosion threatening their lives and property in the area.
Also speaking to Aso Chronicle, a custom officer who is also a resident of the area, Mr. Ibarhim Attahiru, lamented that his house was on the verge of collapse, saying the wall at  the back yard had cracked while the soak-away was caving in due to the erosion.
“In fact, every year, I have to support the building with big stones so that it does not collapse but with the situation presently, I don’t know if one can survive it. As you can see the wall and soak-away have cracked,” he said.
 He lamented that if the erosion was not immediately controlled, it would also cut off the road linking to the permanent site of the Abaji University of Technology and affect the take-off of academic activities there.
The Ona of Abaji/chairman of the FCT Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, who spoke with Aso Chronicle, confirmed that some elders from Wadata led a delegation to his palace to complain about the gully erosion threatening their houses.
He said he had already discussed the matter with the FCT minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, but said he would write a letter of reminder to enable him take urgent action on the erosion menace.  
Also reacting, the chairman of the council, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya, told our reporter that he had paid a visit to the site after he received a letter of complaint from the community. He said he had assured the residents that he would channel the matter to the appropriate quarters for urgent intervention as the erosion was beyond the capability of the council.