The Itsekiri Environmental Protection Initiative (IEPI) has called on the Federal Government, through the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), to appropriate action to address save their communities from impact of the ravaging ocean surge.
The dire situation is currently unfolding in the Itsekiri community of Ogheye, and its adjoining communities of Ekekporo and Eketie, all located in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State.
In a petition titled: “An Open and Urgent Call to Save Ogheye, Ekekporo and Eketie Communities from Ocean Surge and Environmental Degradation” and endorsed by Ojumude Tosan Bishop and Egere Weyinmi, the IEPI Coordinator and Secretary respectively, the group lamented that Ogheye is being relentlessly washed away by a devastating ocean surge.
It described the development as “a disaster fuelled by environmental degradation and exacerbated by climate change and oil exploration activities”.
The IEPI stated that the impact of the ocean surge has been severe and unyielding, with the communities facing the imminent threat of losing their homes, ancestral lands and livelihoods where many sophisticated buildings and other structures have been washed away into the Atlantic Ocean.
This occurrence, it said has been rendering the people homeless as many seek refuge in other communities.
“The once thriving and vibrant community is now on the brink of destruction and extinction, with its people living in constant fear of the next wave of erosion that could sweep away everything they hold dear.”
The organisation noted that the Ogheye community, which is one of the major economic hubs of the south-western part of Delta State and Nigeria, is by the Atlantic shore where aquatic products were traded by Itsekiris, Ilajes, Ijaws, and many others, including Ghanaians and Beninios, who were foreign fishermen.
The duo explained that the immediate past Delta State administration completed and commissioned the Ogheye floating market, “but unfortunately, the community that harbours the much talked about market is presently under environmental threat”.
The IEPI officials disclosed that other neighbouring communities, such as Ekekporo and Eketie, “suffered a worse fate as they are currently almost 80% washed into the ocean by the same surge with zero attention from relevant authorities”.
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