By Ochuko Akuopha

OKPAI—INDIGENES of Okpai, a coastal kingdom in Ndokwa East Local Government Area, Delta State, have raised the alarm that the community was on the verge of being wiped away by erosion and sea surge. They lamented that the shoreline and jetty projects awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, in the community to address the problem of erosion ravaging the community, had been forsaken.

Our worries—Monarch

The Igwe of Okpai kingdom, HRM Goldring Ugbome II, who confirmed the threat of River Niger overrunning the community, said: “The kingdom was on the verge of being submerged into the River Niger by the natural disaster. Apart from having claimed lives and houses, erosion has also destroyed economics trees, farm lands and currently threatening the lives of the indigenes and other residents of the kingdom.”

He said the contract for the shoreline and jetty projects was awarded in 2011 and abandoned in 2012 after the contractor mobilized to site. Noting that erosion was posing serious threat to lives and property of the people living in the towns and villages of the kingdom, along the coast of the River Nigeria, the traditional ruler said the kingdom had lost many lives and houses to the natural disaster, which he said occurs annually.

Ugbome II expressed sadness at the Federal and Delta State Governments’ silence at the abandonment of the project by NDDC and its contractor, despite several letters written from the kingdom on the issue.

Protest letters ignored — CDC chair

Also speaking, Chairman of the Okpai Community Development Committee, CDC, Rev. Fred Okwuezeuolu, said the problem of the erosion bedeviling the kingdom was as a result of the annual upsurge of the River Niger, recalling that his predecessors had written to the NDDC and other appropriate authorities on the issue, but to no avail.

Adequate supervision

He attributed the project abandonment by the contractor to lack of adequate supervision by the Federal Government and NDDC as exemplified by their silence over the ugly situation.

14 dead: On his part, Public Relations Officer the Okpai CDC, Comrade Victor Igweokwu, said about 14 indigenes of the kingdom had so far lost their lives to erosion in the last few years, and appealed to the Chairman, Senate Committee on NDDC, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, to come to their aid by working towards getting the contractor to return to site.

Contractor will return to site—NDDC source

Efforts to reach the Commissioner representing Delta State on the board of NDDC, Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo, were fruitless at the time of this report, but an official of the commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the projects were not abandoned.

He said: “The commission is processing the payment for the last milestone that was completed by the contractor. In a short while, he will be paid and he will return to site to ensure that the work is completed. NDDC is assuring that no job that the commission has awarded will be abandoned.”