By Samuel Oyadongha

ANIBEZE—RESIDENTS of Anibeze, an agrarian and fishing settlement in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have raised an alarm over the damage wreaked on the community by erosion, especially since Setraco, one of the construction companies handling the East-West Road, started mining sand in the village, about six years ago.   Located along the bank of the Forcados River, a tributary of the River Niger, less than four kilometres from the East-West Road that straddles the states of the South-South from the Bayelsa axis, close to the border with Delta state.

The ancient Isoko-speaking community can be described as one of the vanishing communities of Bayelsa state.  There is virtually no state and local government presence in the community even though the natives are made to go through the electoral process of electing their representatives in government.

Boggy link road

Anibeze, the country home of world acclaimed scholar and historian, Prof Obaro Ikimi, is so close to the East-West Road, yet there is no road to the community. The poor rural folks see the heavy-duty trucks of the construction company excavate sand in their community to build roads to other lands, but they are compelled to shuttle on motorcycle, popularly known as Okada or trek the long-wind and marshy path that serve as link road to their community.

Aside the less than one kilometre stretch of the stabilized road leading to the construction firm sand dump site, nothing much has changed on the route as it was 28 years ago when this reporter first walked through the marshy path to “Ogiebou,” one of the many farm settlements, along the route owned by families on the Delta side.

Requests for assistance ignored

With the raining season and the annual flooding fast approaching, many of the natives, especially the poor farmers are worried about the cost implication of conveying their produce to the big markets in neighbouring communities given the high cost of river transportation and the attendant risk involved at the peak of the season due to the turbulent nature of the river and the devastating landslides that often occur along the waterfront.

The community said it had made several appeals to both the state and federal government to come to their aid by at least upgrading the only road leading to the community. Spokesman of the Anibeze Patriotic Front, Mr. Samuel Ese, who spoke to Niger Delta Voice, said the stakeholders were also making conscious effort to prevail on the construction firm to extend the road work from its sand mining point to the heart of the town.

Stakeholders’ demand

He said: “The demand of stakeholders in the community remains the completion of the access road from the East-West Road by Setraco, which has been mining sand from the area for the past six years. “In view of the challenges facing the community from foreshore erosion,  especially since Setraco started its sand mining on the alluvial fan of the River Forcados, some stakeholders came together to set up the Anibeze Patriotic Front.

“The Front has been at the vanguard of efforts to address challenges confronting the community and has been in discussions with the construction company to take the access road to the community, which is about 3.5 kilometres from the spur to the alluvial fan where it mines sand.” Ese disclosed that Setraco has reneged on its promise to address the problem posed by the road and has rather created a divide and rule situation by empowering some youths of the community to subvert efforts aimed at moving forward.

Looming crisis

He said the continued mining of sand by Setraco could speed up the erosion, which has created a looming humanitarian crisis in the community as homes, farmlands and fishing grounds have all been affected over the past few years. “Setraco is yet to address the question of whether a proper environmental impact assessment ,EIA, was carried out before it embarked on its sand mining activities on the Forcados River as the entire stretch of the river is prone to erosion,” he said.

Ikime blasts Setraco

Another stakeholder and indigene of the community, Mr. Sunday Ikime, lamented what he described as uncompromising attitude of Setraco to its Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, to communities from where it derives materials for their work. Niger Delta Voice could not reach officials of the company for comment, Ese said unless government and other concerned groups bring more pressure to bear on the construction company, it would continue to ignore the modest approach by the community, which could lead to weighty consequences.