Niger Delta communities face extinction over erosions—ERA

Worried by the menace of ocean surge that has continued to pose dangers to communities on the coast land in the Niger Delta,  a foremost environmentalist, Mr. Alagoa Morris, has raised the alarm that several coastal communities in the Niger Delta are facing imminent extinction due to recurring ocean surge and coastal erosion.

Morris, the Bayelsa State Coordinator, Environmental Right Action, expressed concern that communities’ lands along the coastlines are washed into the Atlantic Ocean, rivers and creeks in the region on a daily basis.

The environmentalist, who expressed his fears through a statement made available to Sunday Tribune in Yenagoa, said the threats cut across communities in Bayelsa, Ondo, Delta, Rivers states, among others.

He said, “this threat cuts across such communities in the Niger Delta from Ondo to Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states, among others.

“Those of us who visit the affected communities from time to time have no option but to take the risk of ‘crying more than the bereaved’ as the communities have lost their voices and confidence in government to assist them.

“Communities in Bayelsa such as Anibeze in Sagbama Local Government Area, Peremabiri and others in Southern Ijaw, Fangbe in Yenagoa LGA, Anyama and Abobiri in Ogbia LGA and so on are all along rivers and seriously threatened by coastal erosion current.

“The same is the case with other communities in the state such as Twon-Brass, Okpoama, Sangana, Odioama in Brass LGA; Koluama 1 and 2, Ekeni, Ezetu in Southern Ijaw and so on. They are threatened by ocean encroachment.

He added that communities’  lands, school buildings, roads, burial grounds, farmlands, among others, were being washed into the water “every now and then.”

Morris said the environmental challenge such as desertification was far beyond what any community could shoulder.