Okoro-Utip, a serene and peaceful community in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom Ibom State is on the verge of being washed away following the perennial rising sea and river levels.
The coastal erosion witnessed in the community according to the natives have made them lose a large portion of ancestral lands and sacked many families.
Some of the residents of the community told DAILY POST that they have been abandoned to their fate on the island.
They spoke during a three-day Cycles of Reflection meeting at the Community Hall, Okoro-Utip, organized by the Health Of Mother Earth Foundation, an organisation that focuses on environmental/climate justice.
The Secretary, Okoro-Utip village council, Chief Enyinna Wilson, in an interview, said the major need of the community is for the government or any other relevant agency to construct an embankment.
He lamented that encroachment had gradually displaced some of their people, noting that previous appeals made to the government and other agencies did not yield any positive result.
He said, “this community is surrounded by water and when the water rises, it overflows the community. We have been affected by river erosion. It has washed out our land; those empty places you saw while coming into our community were people’s homes before but they have been displaced due to the sea surge.
“The water is still coming closer on a daily basis and we are living in perpetual fear, especially at night. Okoro-Utip lacks so many basic amenities such as good roads, schools, and portable water.
“It’s as if we are cut off from the State even though we are the ones bringing the oil that feeds the nation.
“Our major need is for shoreline protection to be provided to us. We want land reclamation. We have written to the NDDC and the government, but there was no good response.”
Also speaking, Elizabeth Ifum noted that women were the worst hit in the ocean surge, saying that many of them had lost their livestock and other valuables to the disaster and wondered why the government had turned a blind eye to their plight.
She said, “women are really suffering in this community; if the sea rises, it enters people’s houses and they will gather their children and run inside the community for safety.
“Many families have lost their homes and properties due to this problem. We call on the government to help us build an embankment, to protect our lands from being washed away by erosion.”
Rhoda Peter, a community worker, urged the government to build a housing estate in the community to provide succour to many people who lost their homes to erosion.
She lamented the untold hardship the people face from the natural disaster, even as she noted that oil spills from the activities of the multinationals had contaminated their rivers and made it difficult for them to have safe drinking water.
“Our roof tops are black as a result of gas flaring by the oil companies. We don’t have good drinking water. If you fetch water even from a borehole and keep, you will see oil floating on the water,” Peters lamented.
Other members of Okoro-Utip community, who took turns to express their ordeal, said there was no single secondary school, market and hospital in the community.
However, Stephen Oduware, the Project Lead of HOMEF, in his address encouraged the people to set up a Community Development Committee (CDC) that would collate all their prayers in order of priority and write to the appropriate quarters for attention.
Oduware, who urged them to unite and integrate to fight for justice, said it was not right for them to continue sitting down and lamenting over their plight.
On his part, the Coordinator of Peace Point Development Foundation, PPDF, Comrade Umoh Isuah-Ikoh urged the people to own what is in their community by ensuring that they were protected at all times.
