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The Bayelsa State Government has implored the Federal Government to deploy Ecological Fund to assist the state in tackling erosion and other ecological problems facing the state.
The state Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made the call when the paramount ruler of Obogoro community in the Yenagoa Local Government Area, Chief Monday Igodo, accompanied by some chiefs and stakeholders, paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Yenagoa.
Ewhrudjakpo in a statement on Tuesday noted that as a coastal state that is entirely below sea level, almost all the communities are suffering the devastating effect of erosion by losing scarce land, and other valuable property to the menace every year.
He particularly empathised with the people of Obogoro, where half of the community including government primary school and several residential houses were said to have been washed away by erosion.
Describing the situation in Obogoro and other communities as pathetic, Ewhrudjakpo urged the Federal Government to deploy a fair share of the Ecological Fund to providing shoreline protection projects in the state, noting it is beyond the state government to bear the responsibility alone.
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He, however, disclosed that the state government had, in fulfilment of its promise, already awarded the contract for a canalisation project at Obogoro as part of efforts to mitigate the effects of erosion in the community.
The deputy governor, who appealed for patience on the part of the people, noted that the contractor would be mobilised to site as soon as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) exercise was concluded.
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While sympathizing with those who had and are about to lose their houses to the landslide in the community, he promised that the state government would take necessary steps to provide them temporary accommodation.
He also warned the people of the state not to allow dredging activities in their communities without reports of feasibility studies and EIAs, stressing that the worsening erosion challenge in Obogoro was being caused by indiscriminate sand mining along the Ekole River.
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