By Tom Moses

ONNA-THE unregulated activities of illegal sand miners in Akwa Ibom State is not only causing large damage to the environment, but also threatening the foundation of some critical assets in the state such as the Mkpok bridge in Onna Local Government Area and the strategic Calabar-Itu bridge in Itu Local Government Area of the state.

•One of the seized dredging equipment 

No fewer than 32 dredgers were discovered to be mining sand along the Mkpok brook alone thereby further compounding the woes of the gully erosion troubling environment. Also, there serious sand mining activities in Ikot Oduot in Ibesikpo-Asutan, Etim Ekpo and in Itu local government areas.

Troubled by the devastating consequences of sand mining in their domain, the youths of Mkpok have pleaded with the state government to abolish the activities of the sand merchants so as to save the bridge connecting their community to the rest of the state from imminent collapse.

Spokesman of the youths, Mr. Emayak Sylvanus told the Niger Delta Voice that due to the upsurge in land excavation and illegal sand mining, the columns of the Mkpok bridge are now weakened and on the verge of caving in.

Sylvanus lamented that should the bridge eventually give way, many Onna communities, would be cut off from the rest of the state.

The state Commissioner for Works, Mr. Ephraim Inyang and his Environment counterpart, Dr. Iniobong Essien, who last week, led some technical experts to the area on how best to salvage the situation were stunned by the noticeable cracks on the Mkpok Bridge precipitated by activities of sand miners.

“We have decided to come so that this harmful environmental activities could be brought to an end,” Mr. Inyang said, adding that any dredging agent seen at the site would be arrested.

He also disclosed that any dredging equipment coming into Akwa-Ibom for dredging of sand, would be intercepted and impounded.

“We cannot sit and watch our state being destroyed. If this bridge collapses now, business and economic activities of the people here would be crippled including mobility in and out of this part of the state,” he said, and lamented the attendant cost implication for the government on road projects across the state.

He said: “We will stop sand dredging in Akwa Ibom State. If it must continue, it would be around the Atlantic Ocean or in the deep sea.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Iniobong Essien said: “I must say that for us as government, we are particularly worried. It is a very sad development and we cannot fold our arms and watch our environment degraded in the manner it is being done.

Commissioners for Works, Mr. Ephraim Inyang; Environment Dr Iniobong Essien and Information and Communication, Mr. Aniekan Umanah during inspection of dredging site

“We started operations last Monday in Ibesikpo and you need to see the level of devastation that has taken place in our environment, though most people are unaware of the problem. It is a very sad development as witnessed in Mkpok. This has translated to additional cost to government in terms of the road construction that the governor is embarking on. I am sure you are aware that the Ministry of Works has awarded contract for the construction of that road. The cost of that work is certainly affected. Even the columns have cracked.

“Right now, the level of dredging there has gone deep to over 20 metres and what that means is that the contractor will have to do some land filling to get the foundation that will be strong enough to stand the columns for the bridge.

“The people that are doing sand mining with no regulation are not helping the state in any way. We have been talking and calling on them to stop and I have been on that road for the past two months and have visited the Mkpok site severally and have told them to withdraw their dredgers from that place.

“We have also held stakeholders meeting with the dredging sector that included the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Mines and Steel, Nigerian Dredgers Association, where we agreed on certain principles to be followed. In fact, His Excellency has given directive that sand mining should stop immediately and we went round stopping them, but there are some recalcitrant dredgers, who continued with their business.

“They expect us to fold our arms and watch our environment being degraded, no, we cannot allow that. For now, whichever site we get to and we find illegal sand miners on our land, we will seize the equipment and let them come and pay for the cost of degrading done to our land.

“If they want to do sand mining in this state, we will give them the locations very close to the Atlantic Ocean where they can get proper mining equipment to go and do their sand mining, but not in our immediate water-ways where bridges are now being affected and the routes of bridges are now completely destroyed.

“Whoever that wants to do sand mining within our land should come to the Ministry and follow due process. We cannot accept a situation where 32 dredgers get into a little community and degrade the entire environment and then walk away.”

He added: “Calabar-Itu Road is a major economic route for us and we cannot afford to see that bridge collapse. If it does, then, the entire South-South is going to be in trouble; so, we cannot allow that to happen,” he declared.