Cross River Communities Fear erosion, Homes Could Collapse…

As rains persist, expanding ravines in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, are threatening residential buildings in Peaceland and Ikot Nkebre communities, displacing families and putting more homes at risk of collapse.

Key highlights:

Several houses have reportedly been swallowed or abandoned.

A widow’s home in Peaceland is now about five metres from the ravine.

Residents say recent rainfall has accelerated the erosion.

Communities are calling for urgent engineering intervention from the state and relevant agencies.

Residents of the two communities said they were living in fear, with several houses already lost or abandoned while others are now only a few metres from the edge of the expanding erosion channels.

They said the situation had worsened following recent rains, raising fears that more buildings could collapse if the rainfall continues.

At Peaceland, one of those at risk is Mrs Ekanem Inyang, a widow and mother of three, whose home is now about five metres from the ravine.

She said the property was the only house left to her family by her late husband, who died in 2018.

“When the rain falls, I will not be able to sleep. Please, the government should help me because I don’t have any hope. We don’t have any way to go,” Inyang said.

The community leader, Johnson Eteng, said residents had watched helplessly as the ravine consumed properties and forced some landlords and tenants to relocate.

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Eteng said residents had attempted to control the erosion by planting bamboo and using discarded trailer tyres to reinforce sections of the ravine, but the measures failed to withstand the force of the water.

At Lower Nkebre, another resident, Tawo Ogar, a university lecturer, described the ravine as “very active”, warning that more houses could be lost within weeks if the current rainfall persists.

He called on the Cross River State Government, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Ministries of Works and Environment, and the New Map project to urgently intervene with appropriate engineering measures to protect the remaining buildings.

However, other residents said they were yet to see tangible intervention at the affected sites despite the rapid expansion of the ravine.

They urged the government and development partners to act before more families are displaced, stressing that relocating residents amid the prevailing economic hardship would be difficult.

“We don’t want to record more devastation,” the residents said.