Odahiekwu Ogunde, Yenagoa
Several residents of Obogoro community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have abandoned their homes due to a ravaging coastal erosion in the area.
Some inhabitants of the community were seen packing hurriedly from their houses as the rampaging natural disaster had encroached on houses, churches, schools and other open lands.
The water from the Epie creek, it was noticed, has submerged everything within its way, eating deep into the community.
With many residents already rendered homeless, the people have over the years cried out for help from the state and federal authorities without getting any positive response.
The residents, observedly abandoned to their fate, have now left their homes in droves, seeking shelter and refuge outside the community.
A media practitioner residing in the area, who preferred anonymity, raised the alarm that several houses, including her own, were now under threat of being sacked by the coastal erosion.
Monarchs and community leaders have also sent a ‘save our souls’ messages to government, noting that the National Youth Service Corps lodge in the area had not been spared from the devastating menace.
Also, the community’s primary school, Saint Paul’s Primary School, Obogoro, has been washed into the Ekoli river.
Paramount ruler of the community, King Monday Igodo, said the people had also lost their sources of livelihood with farmlands, crops all consumed, leaving the place in community strangulated, with survival of people now a major source of concern.
It was observed that the absence of power supply had further compounded the residents’ woes with the community plunged into darkness for over two years.
A community member, identified as Peter Goodnews, said the people were undergoing hardship with families displaced and scattered.
Another community member, Wisdom Winepre, said he was traumatised because he had lost his home to erosion and currently at a loss as to where to live or stay.
The residents, therefore, called on the Bayelsa State and Federal Government as well as relevant authorities to come to their rescue and save them from the threat posed by coastal erosion in Ogbogoro community.