By Some Ogenyi, Uyo
The lives and properties of some Riverine communities in Akwa Ibom are no longer guaranteed as the multi Billion Naira shoreline protection project meant to forestall ocean encroachment in the Niger Delta have been abandoned.
The project awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC in 2012 has brought continued to cause untold hardship to the communities who have expressed concerns over a threat of wipeout.
Speaking with newsmen in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State yesterday, the Village Head of Iwuochang, one of the communities affected , Chief Daniel Afia said the project has been abandoned for eight years now.
Afia said the community has made several entreaties to both the contractor; Smith Engineering who had since abandoned his equipment at the site and the NDDC, but without any positive result.
The village head who alleged that no NDDC project has so far been completed in the area, cited several abandoned roads, including the road linking Ibeno with Eastern Obolo as some of the commission’s abandoned projects in the coastal area.
Also speaking, the Vice Youth President of Iwuochang Community, Mr Sam Willie said the inability of the contractor to complete the project has pushed many landlords around the coastal line out of their homes.
“You know they had to remove the old and worn-out embankment to replace the new one. But after removing it, they abandoned the project, leaving the community bare and at risk.
“It is always very threatening when the high tide comes, there is nothing to hold it. All the houses around here were occupied by their landlords but they have all been sacked because the encroachment is usually fast, hugh and unexpected”. Willie said.
He said he had on several occasions, on behalf of the community taken letters to the NDDC office in Port Harcourt and its Uyo office at Ewet Housing Estate, but without response.
The Chief Security Officer of the area, Mr Ebrewong Eshiet who also spoke with newsmen blame failures of NDDC projects in the region to poor supervision and contract award on political grounds.
He lamented that the community youths employed by Smith Engineering during the project were still being owed salaries, in addition to exposing the community to a possible wipeout due to the failed embankment/dredging project
