By Mukhtar Ajelogbon
Climate change causes more intense downpours that always aggravating erosion by adding to other factors destabilising soils including deforestation, unsustainable farming, mining of sand for brick-making, road construction and poorly designed drains.
As rainfall increases in intensity because of climate change, landslides are becoming more common which will pose serious erosion threat particularly in areas that are prone to erosion where there is low clay content and organic matter, making the soil fragile and highly vulnerable to corrosive rainfall.
It is a very serious problem which deserves urgent attention. Unless soil erosion is given the needed attention, the menace of soil erosion remains inevitable. The effect is multiplied by poor drainage systems while increased pressure on land for agriculture and development have exposed the soil.
In Nigeria, soil and gully erosion with landslides are responsible for the widespread destruction of human, animal and plant lives; domestic, industrial and commercial property; transportation and communication systems; degradation of arable lands, contamination of surface and groundwater supplies; isolation of settlements and migration of communities.
Nigeria’s battle with soil erosion is part of a trend playing out in other parts of the world. According to the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), soil erosion is also affecting Europe with 12 million hectares of land which is 7.2% of Europe’s total cropland, impacted and resulting in losses of 1.4 billion dollars annually in agricultural productivity and 155 million euro in gross domestic product. While in Sub-Saharan Africa, soil erosion accounts for about 77% of land degradation and threatens about 22% of arable land.
In Nigeria, the economic damage brought by gullies could be up to 400 million dollars every year with agricultural yield losses of 30 to 90% in some areas like Northeastern part of the country. Gullies are now becoming part of political campaigns, with some communities erecting signboards near the highway to draw attention to erosion sites as some politicians pretended to work on the erosion site and made a lot of promises during the campaign while little or nothing happened after elections.
For instance, over-cultivation of land in certain parts of Kwara State has resulted in gully erosion and such arrears include the road linking Iloffa with Odo-Owa in Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara State, and most farmlands in Ekiti Local Government such as Osi, Araromi-Opin and other neighbouring villages, while in Ilorin some areas in Asa local government, Amilegbe, Idi-Ogede, Gaa-imam, Danialu-Olohunsogo-Agbabiaka axis, Ita-Alamu, Oja Gbooro among others were victims of erosion.
Statistically, Nigerian Government have been receiving financial support from the World Bank to carry out remedial measures in erosion-affected states where under the eight-year, $500 million dollars have been received since September 2013 through Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project.
The major challenge now is how to stop other areas from being taken away while we fight to recover areas that are severely damaged as much more work remains to be done.
This Social Commentary is calling on the general public to desist from blocking the water channels with refuse and stop any form of construction on the waterways while the Federal authorities should declare a state of emergency on erosion in Nigeria. The government should hire only reputable contractors and ensure reliable environmental impact assessments are done before actual construction work.
Implementing the control measures, Federal, State, local governments and community leaders should, therefore, inform and engage the inhabitants of the communities about the dangers of erosion and how they can respond, especially by keeping their culverts and canals free of refuse to successfully halt the initiation of gully erosion and landslide.
