By News Maker Media in Abuja
Obogoro Community in Bayelsa State is on the brink of extinction and the Senate has been asked to act fast.
A motion by Senator Benson Friday Konbowei representing Bayelsa Central has raised the alarm over decades-long erosion that is wiping out the community.
Konbowei told the Senate that Obogoro people are losing their ancestral land, livelihoods and lives to the aggressive erosion.
He revealed that in recent times alone, about 300 residents have been rendered homeless, with public primary school buildings, school field, Youth Corpers’ lodge and playground all washed away.
Several persons, he added, have drowned as the river continues to eat up the community land, especially during annual flood seasons.
According to the motion, the community has petitioned the National Assembly, government agencies and oil companies operating in the area but got no solution.
The Senator warned that Obogoro risks being wiped off the map if urgent action is not taken, stressing that it is undesirable for the country to lose one of its constituent communities.
He therefore prayed the Senate to urge the Ecological Project Office, Ministry of Environment, NDDC to urgently provide shoreline protection, and NEMA to immediately deploy relief materials to victims.
