Samuel Oyadongha
31 October 2008
THE elders and people of Otuogidi in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have called on the state government to come to the aid of the community following the complete blockage of the Kolo Creek by water hyacinth.
The waterway is the only means of getting to their farmlands.
Though the invasion of water weeds is a perennial problem to most riverine communities in the state but the complete blockage of the Kolo Creek around Otuogidi this time around is now a source of concern to the natives who are currently battling to clear the floating weeds from the waterway in order to access their farmlands.
This reporter who visited the riverine settlement alongside with officials of BANGOF observed that the invading floating weeds have made the usually winding creek currently not navigable for the predominantly farming and fishing with the result that they could no longer convey their farm produce to the nearby Ogbia market.
The unusual large presence of the weed in the community is however attributed to the construction of a bridge across the community, linking them directly with Ogbia Town (a shorter route).
Narrating the plight of his people, Mr. Ebizimor Benis, Chairman, Community Development Committee (CDC) said the large concentration of the weed on the waterway is negatively impacting on the socio-economic live of the community.
His words, "We are really happy to see you people, especially as your visit is a noble one; for the good of our community. It is a delight too that as you arrived you saw us at the waterside near the bridge struggling with the weeds.
You have witnessed for yourselves what we are experiencing; that portion of the creek is completely blocked, no canoe or speedboat can pass any more. And, unless something urgent is done, this is a real threat to our livelihood. The situation is pathetic. What you saw as you came was our humble effort to help ourselves."
When asked what could be the cause of the blockage, the Public Relations Officer of the community, Mr. Victor Amasa said though the weed menace is a perennial problem but blamed the high concentration around the bridge on the number of pillars suspending the bridge.
"The weeds got hooked to the pillars and, as this continued; it led to the present scenario, a complete blockage. As it is now, it is a real threat to our people because if we can no longer go to fish, farm or market, you can imagine what that means. There is no thoroughfare any more and, that is why we were at the spot where you met us, trying to do something."
"This is a constituency project being embarked upon by a member of the State House of Assembly. Initially, what was proposed for our community was a landing jetty. But we opted for the bridge because even if we were given a landing jetty, we would still have the problem of crossing this river; ferrying ourselves every now and then".
It was agreed that, though we are expecting a bigger bridge later, this foot bridge should serve us for now. And, when the contractor came to site, we approached him and, he agreed to make it in such a way that, at least a car can go through at a time. So, this project is very important to our people. As you can see, the project is on-going and will be completed soon. It will be a big relief to our people when completed."
It is unfortunate that the local government system is going through some replacement of officers now. We would have asked for some assistance from them to aid us in this fight against the water weeds," he said.
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