Disaster Alert; Erosion displaces thousands in Benin, threatens national grid, cuts off old Benin – Agbor road

Disaster Alert; Erosion displaces thousands in Benin, threatens national grid, cuts off old Benin -Agbor road
Ogbeson Community cries out for helps

There was panic across Ikpoba Hill, Ward 03, Ikpoba Okha local government Area on Sunday as a massive erosion crisis rendered thousands of residents homeless in Ogbeson Community along the Old Benin-Agbor Road

According to eyewitnesses and community leaders, the disaster is caused by the convergence of flood waters from Ohovbe, Ighekpe, Evbo Amufi, and Nofinoba communities. The flood channels through the road beside the NNPC Benin Depot, cuts across the strategic Benin-Agbor-Asaba-Onitsha Expressway, and empties onto Old Benin-Agbor Road

“This morning we woke up to see houses collapsing into the gully. Children and women are sleeping in schools and with neighbors. If this rain continues, Ogbeson will be wiped off the map,” a community elder said.

Engineers who visited the site warned that high-tension towers of the National Grid are now standing dangerously close to the edge of the erosion.
“If we get one more heavy rain, those towers will fall. That means blackout for Ikpoba Okha, Oredo and parts of Egor. This is a national emergency,” a source said.

The people of Ogbeson and environs are calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria, Edo State Government, Ikpoba Okha LGC, NDDC, Ministries of Works, Bridges and Environment, TCN, and Edo State Oil and Gas Commission to declare a state of emergency and begin immediate reconstruction.

They also appealed for the urgent reconstruction of the less-than-5km Federal Trunk Road from Doris Dey Dynasty D.D.D through Ogbeson to Ikhueniro Bypass. Residents say the road, abandoned for years, will reduce the daily traffic gridlock and serve as an evacuation route during disasters.

“Government should not wait until we start burying our people before they act. Come and save us now,” a youth leader pleaded.Mrs. Grace Igbinoba, 42, a trader in Ogbeson, spent Sunday night on the floor of a church hall. Her 3-bedroom apartment is now part of a 15-foot gully.

“The water came from Ohovbe and Ighekpe side around 4am. By 7am my kitchen was gone. My children are crying. We have nowhere to go,”she said, fighting back tears.

Ogbeson, a fast-growing settlement along Old Benin-Agbor Road, is the latest victim of Nigeria’s worsening erosion crisis. The community says the gully has cut off access roads, destroyed farms, and is moving toward NNPC facilities and TCN power lines,

Leaders estimate that over 2,000 people have been directly affected. Schools have been turned to IDP camps.

The community is calling on President Bola Tinubu, Governor Monday Okpebholo, NDDC MD, and their Reps/Senator to act within 14 days or risk a larger humanitarian disaster.

They also reminded government of the abandoned DDD-Ogbeson-Ikhueniro 5km road which was once a federal trunk road. “Fix that road and you will reduce both traffic and flooding,” they said.