Anxiety in Bayelsa community over landslide

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

Saturday March 2, 2013 was to be a routine in Okoroba, Kolokuma/ Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State but fate had a different plan in the offing.

In a twinkle of an eye, eight houses were nearly swallowed up in a landslide which took the community back to 2009, when a major catastrophe swallowed up several houses and wreaked havoc.

After the 2009 disaster, the community had written a letter to the state and federal pleading they should come to their aid before the community goes into extinction. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on the strength of the community’s pleas intervened and awarded a contract for the shoreline protection of the community.

The project has however, not been completed before the latest landslide which the community is now blaming on the non-completion of the project. According to investigations, the people of Okoroba would have lost livesif not for the early farming that took people living in the affected houses from their homes. The victims said it was the handiwork of God that made them escape from the disaster.

Speaking through the paramount ruler HRH Mac-Carthy Macpherson said the spirit of hard work and early morning fishing among the indigenes of the community was responsible for victims of the landslide to be alive.

“Many of the residents of affected houses were on the river fishing in the early hours, while others have started cooking when they heard a loud sound and their houses were sinking before their eyes”, he said. The monarch said some close neighbors whose houses were not affected moved in and engaged in rescue operation for the victims to salvage some of their property.

The disaster which threw the community into a sober mood drew the ire of community youths and some elders in the community. While the community youths were mobilizing to invade the company handling the project, the elders had concluded plans to drag it to court.

However after consultation with critical stakeholders of the community, Mac- Carthy Macpherson decided to intervene and appeal to the community people to sheath their swords. Reliable sources at the meeting said the Monarch was able to resolve the outstanding issues and persuaded those who wanted to go to court to shelve the plan.

He was noted to have said though the landslide disaster that hit the community was a natural disaster that had occurred few years ago, the legal action by some members of the community against the contracting firm on the shore protection project would be withdrawn to allow quick work to stop further landslide incidents.

The Project Manager of the Zement&Zement, Mr.Adedoyin Kayode, explained that the company had mobilized to site with over 38 containers of materials, huge dumps of sands and stones for the shoreline protection project, According to him the legal hurdle placed before the company had delayed the project and efforts had been on since to overcome the hurdle.

The Environmental Rights Action (ERA) executive director, Revd Nimimo Bassey in his reaction to the incident urged the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Bayelsa State government to provide urgent assistance to victims of the landslide. He stated that the state government ought to take steps to address the needs of those affected by the landslide.