Rikoto: Kebbi community living amid menace of erosion

As this year’s rainy season draws near the Rikoto community in Zuru area of Kebbi State are already losing sleep, they are in fear and apprehension over the havoc it brings to them every year. Over the years, the Zuru community is being incessantly ravaged by floods during every rainy season. This is due to the damages which uncontrolled gully erosion had done to the area many years back. Despite this the people appear  determined to live with the calamity and fight it head-on through some of the projects initiated by the community development association to curb the menace of the erosion. Today, the devastating impact of the erosion is visible in many areas of the community. It is common to see the damage it has visited on houses, landscape, the surroundings, and the threat it still poses to lives and properties in the community.  

Rikoto is said to be about two thirds of the Zuru township area and densely populated ,but it cannot expand because of the problems posed by gully erosion. The areas of the community affected by erosion stretch  over two kilometres from Rafin Mosee, Shada Wanka, Mangorori to the Masallacin Jumaa area of the town.   

Lamenting over the erosion issue the District head of Rikoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Shehu Bandi said “It was a serious problem for people living in the affected areas of the community last year because the roads were not accessible and many of their houses were pulled down.  Unfortunately, many of the roads that link the town of Zuru with Rikoto were not accessible. Initially, a culvert was built to rescue the people from being cut off from the rest of the communities, but it was washed away. Nobody from the area would have been able to move from that side to other areas of Zuru except such person has wings to fly.” 

Five years ago the federal government awarded the Rikoto erosion control  project to a construction company, Zoha Enterprises Limited at the cost of N119,587371,75k. The company started work to put a stop to the menace of erosion in the community, but it abandoned the project midway into its completion. 

Some of the community elders who spoke on the project said it would have solved the erosion problem in the area and as well impacted positively on the numerous activities in the community. Speaking to our correspondent, Alhaji Isah Dauda said “The project would have really helped us because the sand filling they started, if they had completed it could have significantly reduced the problems.

There are still many areas in the community where such project is needed. Before they embarked on the project this area was inhabitable but the little they did before it was abandoned has helped to save lives, and many houses which  we thought were already lost to the erosion. We appeal to those that are charged with the responsibility of the erosion control  project to come and finish the work they abandoned for the past four years.

Many houses in the areas have collapsed and some may still collapse because of this problem. Government should move in to curtail the threat it poses to the lives and properties of the people. It is posing a serious threat to us, yet people continue to build houses and the population in the areas has greatly increased over the years. The erosion control project is significant to us but the level of work so far is insignificant because many affected areas are yet to be covered.” 

Expressing his displeasure and frustration over the issue, the district head said “We cannot continue to watch our houses falling and yet fold our arms, we have reported the issue severally to the authorities at both the local, state and federal levels. We also embark on community self help efforts to curtail the erosion. We built small culverts in some strategic places for people in the affected areas so that they can have access to the other areas of the community, but flood has washed them away.

This erosion issue has become a serious challenge to us here. The representatives of the communities that are affected even came here recently with a request to see the commissioner for the environment over their plight, but we need to discuss the issue first with his royal highness, the Emir of Zuru. The abandoned work on the effort to control the erosion by the federal government is causing a serious problem for many of our communities.The deputy governor was here to inspect the affected areas, and he promised us that something would be done to end our suffering, but nothing is yet to be done about it. 

“From the way we see it, it appears the issue is beyond what the state government alone can handle. Sometimes back, the federal government started work on it but the work was stopped half way. When they started the whole community was happy because some houses were about to be taken away by the erosion. 

They started well and we thought it would be completed within a reasonable time before the rainy season, but unfortunately they stopped half way into the project. We waited for them to come back and finish the work, but it is over four years now since they stopped work on the erosion control project. We know that for government to embark on such project it must have done the feasibility study to know the type of work to be done in the areas. It must know the cost and how long it will take them to finish it. But the questions many of us are asking is who did the federal government award the erosion project to? Why did they stop work on the project for over four years now? Why did the government that awarded the contract not care to find out whether the project was completed or not? Is the contractor alive or dead ,and if he is dead does it end the execution of the contract?”

Kebbi State is one of the states that is faced with environmental and ecological problems such as erosion and desertification. The State and Federal Government through the ecological funds had carried out several projects aimed at combating the problems. The Federal Government through Sokoto River Rima Development Authority (SRRBDA) has carried out projects to control gully erosion and flooding in 3 of the state’s local government areas. The projects were carried out in 2005 and 2008 in erosion prone areas of Zuru, Sambawa, Jega and Tudun Wada in Birnin Kebbi. 

The Director in the State Ministry of Environment, Alhaji Muhammad Ameen Maijega said the state is currently witnessing an alarming proportion of soil erosion apart from desert encroachment. ‘’Already vast areas  of scarce agricultural land is lost to the escalating problems which are detrimental to farmers. He attributed human activities such as wrong crop practices which range from improper tillage, ridge making across the contour, quarrying and illegal mining activities, improper construction of roads without adequate drainages, over grazing, path creation and trampling of livestock by nomads, indiscriminate destruction of vegetation amongst others, as contributing to soil erosion in Kebbi State. 

Tracing the cause of the erosion in the community, Alhaji Bandi said “As geographers used to say, it might be due to human activities.

When I was growing up I used to pass through the areas that are now affected by erosion, around 1974 to 1976 we had nothing like that in those places. Maybe when the town started to develop and people begin to build houses and the water no longer spread over, it started to gully the areas little by little until it got to the terrible and devastating stage it is now. We recently formed an association for community development projects to tackle this issue of erosion. The community will be required to give out its labour and 10 percent of the cost of any project that is embarked on by the association. This is what we are working on now, but if the federal government decides to come back and finish the project it started to end the menace of erosion in our community, we will be very happy.”

Daily Trust