A baseline study by the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), revealed that there are over 200 active gully erosion sites wreaking havoc in different communities of Gombe State. Daily Trust on Sunday visited Kwami town, one of the affected communities and reports.
A long line of vehicles queued on a highway waiting for their turn to pass through a small bridge near Kwami town. The traffic jam was as a result of erosion that swept away a portion of the road, near a huge valley adjoining the bridge. The erosion nearly cut off the small bridge that links the town and Gombe, and by extension linking the state and other states in the North-West part of Nigeria.
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Kwami town, located along the ever-busy Gombe-Dukku Highway and about 10 kilometres north of Gombe city, is one of the several communities battling gully erosion for years.
Kwami, said to be established over 100 years ago, is the second largest town in Kwami Local Government Area, after Malam-Sidi, the headquarters of the LGA.
Due to increase in population in Gombe city, several civil servants and other people conducting various businesses in the capital city now reside in Kwami town due its proximity.
However, despite its history and strategic location, Kwami has been battling gully erosion for over 23 years.
The unfortunate development has led to several farmlands and residential areas being submerged, thereby leaving hundreds of people homeless and forcing several others forced to relocate to safer places.
An official of a community-based group, Kwami Development Association (KDA), told Daily Trust on Sunday that if measures are not taking, the erosion will chase them away from their ancestral homes.
The official, Malam Abdullahi Mahmuda, narrated how in the last 22 years, they’ve been living in constant fear whenever it rains, especially in the night.
“Kwami town is located on a major water way coming from the western part of Gombe State. The water empties into the Dadin Kowa River, on the eastern part of the state. The valley started to encroach into our houses and farmlands and posed a threat to the people of Kwami round 1999 during the tenure of former Governor Abubakar Habu Hashidu.
“That particular valley has submerged several farmlands over the years. As a result, most people have lost their ancestral farmlands and are forced to abandon farming, which is their only means of livelihood,” Mahmuda narrated.
According to him, apart from farmlands, the valley has also destroyed several houses on the eastern part of the town, forcing several people to abandoned their houses and rent houses in other parts of the town or stay with their relatives. This has threatened major roads that linked the town with other parts of the state.
He added that some years ago, the people of Kwami realised some funds through individual donations and constructed an embankment that surrounded the town from the western part.
“It was that embankment that greatly reduced the force of the water, especially during the rainy season and it was what saved residents of Kwami from relocating at that time,” he said.
The KDA official added that despite constructing the embankment, the town is still under the threat of flooding whenever it rains, “because the town is situated on water passage and it was predicted that if nothing is done, the water may force us to leave the town completely.”
He explained that to save the town and its hundreds of thousands of residents, the government should construct a good drainage system in all the water ways that passed through the town.
“We are appealing to the government to please look at our pains and save the lives of numerous people living in the town, in order to leave a good environment habitable for our unborn children,” Mahmuda said.
Malam Ibrahim Abdullahi, a resident of Kwami told Daily Trust Saturday that apart from the erosion problem, Kwami LGA is also in dire need of rural roads that will connect several villages to make life comfortable for them.
He said, “We are appealing for the construction of rural roads in Tappi, Diri villages and the ongoing Jar Kwami roads that will connect such places which major towns in Kwami West like Bojude and Gadam.
“It would give the rural dwellers, who are mostly farmers, easy access to take their farm produce to the markets.”
Daily Trust on Sunday leant that aside the valley and erosion problem, residents of Kwami also face the problem of acute shortage of potable water.
A resident of the town, Malam Abubakar Musa, said they spend over N1.6 million monthly to buy water from commercial water tanks during the dry season.
“For now, our only means of getting water for domestic usage is through commercial water tanks that are bringing the water from Kwadon town. During the dry season, we use about 25 tankers daily in Kwami town alone.
“And during the dry season, it is even difficult to get the water and each tank cost us about N10,500, which is about N7.5m monthly. Therefore, having potable water from the water board even twice in a week will significantly reduce our hardship,” he said.
Abubakar added that the location of the town makes it difficult for the residents or even government to construct boreholes.
“During the administration of former Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, pipelines were laid from Dadin-Kowa up to Kwami, what remains now is connecting the pipes into the town to make water accessible to homes in Kwami.”
However, the Commissioner of Water Resources, Mijinyawa Yahaya, said the state government has approved N11.49bn contract for the rehabilitation, upgrade and expansion of the Gombe regional water supply scheme.
He explained that areas to be covered in the contract include the construction of a mini water scheme in Tabra, rehabilitation of old network structures, installation and laying of about 160 kilometres of distribution pipelines in Gombe metropolis and installation of one hundred isolation valves and rehabilitation of the existing ones.
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