The market chairman.
Anambra erosion menace: Traders, road users urge FERMA back to site
By Chinwe Nwacha, Onitsha
Palpable fear has allegedly gripped traders and road users in Ogbaru Relief (Main) market and its environs, Ogbaru Local Government Area, Anambra State, following the worsening situation of the gulley erosion site along Upper Iweka/Owerri road bye-pass.
The erosion site
Recall that Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, few months ago, based on petition to it, written by the chairman of Ogbaru market, Chief Ndubisi Ochiogu, worked on the gulley erosion site after it collapsed about 10 shops in Ogbaru market, exhumed underground cables, water burn pipes, electric poles, among others.
Reacting to the latest development, Chief Ochiogu, said that, "Not long after the completion of the work, the flood of the first rain uprooted the slabs and caused serious cracks that have worsened the situation. If nothing is done to rectify the situation now that it has not come to former stage, all money and efforts spent will be wasted. The raining season is fast approaching.
"I personally wrote to FERMA and they came and worked on the erosion, and I thanked them for their intervention and want to remind them that their good work is currently being threatened by flood, " he pleaded..
Reacting, the patron of Ozioma line, Chief Okoro Fidelis, said that if nothing was done to stop the erosion from escalation, the market may cave in as the rain continued.
"We have tried to see the people that did the work physically but to no avail. One of their machines is still here. Please let them come immediately before the situation gets out of hand
"We are happy that the chairman of the market, Chief Ochiogu, who petitioned them when the erosion menace increased, is presently in the market. We commend him for his efforts because without him the situation of the threat would have been worse, "he said
Also in his speech, a trader in the market, Mr. Uzoma Onwugbufo, stated that fear of the erosion threat has gripped all, adding that the good work FERMA did to control the flood that passes through the Sakamori drainage system, is being threatened as the slabs, and walls of the erosion site are being washed away by the raging flood.
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