Sometime in July, Ibeabuchi was away from home when floods ravaged his residence at Umuabu village in Adazi Enu in Anaocha Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State. He could not salvage his properties, including his credentials.
Water has no enemy is an old cliche that Ezeanya Ibeabuch is yet to come to terms with. All his life, he has seen water as a natural friend until a raw deal of the anger of nature changed his perception.
Sometime in July, Ibeabuchi was away from home when floods ravaged his residence at Umuabu village in Adazi Enu in Anaocha Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State. He could not salvage his properties, including his credentials.
He lamented, “I was in Onitsha when I was called that because of the open gutters, floods have pushed all my fences down. The floods pushed my soak pit open and filled the soak pit and pushed some blocks of my fences into the pit.”
Everything in my house has been completely damaged. My certificates and every other document I have in this house have been damaged. Where do I start now?
“What flood damage in my home is worth millions of Naira. I can’t bear this.”
At the mercy of abandoned erosion and flood control projects
But how did Ibeabuchi and many other residents of Umuabu become victims of floodings when the federal government had anticipated the incident and taken measures to prevent it?
Anambra is one of the South-east states with perirenal erosion and flooding challenges. There are over 100 gully sites in the state, but only about 30 have received measures of control, according to a research, ‘Review of Gully Erosion in Anambra State: Geology, Causes, Effects, Control Measures and Challenges Associated with Its Mitigation’.
The research work, done in 2023 by O. Oshim Francisca, C. Ayajuru Nelson, C. Anumaka Collins and S. Olayemi Opeyemi, and published in Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International, stated that the erosion activity in the state has resulted in the loss of productive lands, water pollution, sedimentation of waterways, and the loss of lives and properties almost every year, which explains why residents like Ibeabuchi have become victims of flooding.
Many homes in Umuabu village would have been spared of the pangs of flooding had Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd, a company that secured the erosion and flood control job from the federal government, not abandoned the project.
“Where do I start now? The worth of things that floods damaged is in millions of naira. I can’t bear this,” Ibeabuchi lamented the impact of the incident.
In 2022, Felix Odimegwu, the state’s commissioner for environment, said erosion had eaten over 70 percent of the landmass in Anambra.
Year-in–year-out, residents of communities in Idemili North, Anaocha, Dunukofia, Orumba North, among others live in perpetual fear of unpredictable death and unquantifiable destruction of properties by erosion.
In December 2023, the commissioner said about 160 out of 179 communities in the state are grappling with the imminent threat of deaths and destruction posed by gully erosion.
But Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd and five other companies engaged by the federal government to execute flood and erosion control works in four local government areas in the state have defaulted and left the residents to their fate.
This is despite the payment of N244,105,807.15 between March 8, 2021, and December 15, 2023, to the companies, according to data available on GovSpend platform, which tracks government’s expenditures on capital projects.
The firms are Del-trazi Nigeria Limited (Erosion and Flood Control works at Agbadani/Obeagu/Adama Nri General Hospital, Enugwu Ukwu Road, Anaocha LGA); Khalidtech Global Concept Limited (Erosion and Flood Control works at Section 2 Umuabu, Adazi Enu, Anaocha LGA); Aloy Standard Nigeria Limited (Flood and Erosion Control in Nkwelle Umunachi, Idemili North LGA); Cathnel Services Limited (Erosion Control works at Iguala Road, Ifitedunu, Dunukofia LGA); Saicom Integrated Services Limited (Erosion Control Project in Ahaba Oka, Enugwu Nanka, Orumba North LGA, and Eldov Transnational Services Limited (Flood and Erosion control in Obeagu, Anaocha LGA).
The Umuabu erosion control contract was awarded by the Federal Ministry of Environment and supervised by the Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority.
The Umuabu erosion control project and the five other erosion and flood control projects were captured in 2021, 2022 and 2023 approved budgets.
On December 21, 2023, the Federal Ministry of Environment paid the sum of N12,334,526.10 to Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd for erosion and flood control works at Section 2 Umuabu, Adazi-Enu, Anambra State, according to GovSpend.
Similarly, on March 25, 2022, the ministry paid the sum of N28,738,414.30 to Del-trazi Nig. ltd for Agbadani/Obeagu/Adama Nri General Hospital, Enugwu Ukwu Road in Anaocha Local Government Area.
Also, on December 31, 2022, and December 15, 2023, the Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority (AIRBDA) paid a total sum of N59,584,756.56 to Eldov Transnational Services ltd for flood and erosion control at the same Obeagu community.
On March 31, 2023, and April 21, 2023, the Authority again paid a total sum of N16,017,774.23 to Saicom Integrated Services Limited for erosion control project in Ahaba Oka in Enugwu Nanka, Orumba North Local Government Area of the state.
However, despite the huge amount of money released to contractors, the heartbreaking story of these communities cannot be said to have changed.
Some of the awarded erosion and flood control projects have remained completely abandoned, some were never started while some were poorly executed and have almost returned to their previous states, hence, providing little or no intended solution to beneficiaries.
Abandoned Erosion Projects Cause Life Of Daily Panic, Uncertainty
Abandonment and poor execution of projects by contractors and implementing agencies have become somewhat a norm in Nigeria, and each abandoned project deals a heavy blow on the supposed beneficiaries, yet funds allocated or released for it are never accounted for.
With the ravaging floods and erosion in the Anambra communities that Reporter visited, residents live a daily life of uncertainty. Many lamented that they are losing their assets and scarce resources on a regular basis, and that they might soon be completely displaced if erosion finally takes over their spaces of residence.
They also lamented that they have made several attempts to draw the urgent attention of the Nigerian government that awarded the contracts to take urgent necessary actions and solve their problems, but nothing has been done.
Chairman of Umuabu community, Engr. Eziuzor Ikechukwu said, “What we are seeing is that the Nigerian government that awarded the contract, and even the state government, are not monitoring the project, because if they are monitoring it, we would not still be exposed to danger of erosion floods like this.
“It is either the government has not paid the contractor or the contractor is being inhumane by exposing us to floods. We have held a press conference for the world to hear our voice.
“We cannot remain silent while our people’s properties are being washed away. There is hunger in town. the government cannot feed us. we are not being given fertilizers. Our farming is not being subsidized.
“How can somebody under this condition go to the market, invest his money in farming and the government’s actions that should be aiding us, is rather washing away our farmlands? How can we survive all these?
“I don’t know what to do. This is not humane. This is wickedness by the government and the contractor, because you cannot just give somebody a contract and go to bed. when you give a contract, you monitor.
“I know that before a contract is awarded, there would be an environmental impact assessment, and I’m sure that if you go to the ministry (Ministry of Environment), they did it on paper, otherwise, they should have known the volume of water that is flowing into this community and they should have known how to do it.
“We are paying our taxes, but how wicked is it for the government to expose us to this kind of danger. I don’t understand whether we still have a government in this state.”
Ibeabuchi said their situation has been made worse by another contractor they identified as Benijas Construction Company engaged by the state governor, Chukwuma Soludo, to construct the road in the same area where Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd abandoned the erosion control contract.
Ibeabuchi said, “What we experienced here last year (2023) in terms of flooding was very bad. We couldn’t contain it.
“For over two years, we have been experiencing this horrible situation. Most times I no longer return home because of the erosion and flooding. Each time I come home and fix what had been damaged, floods will still damage them again whenever it rains.
“As I’m speaking now, I no longer drive my car into my compound. Since the contractor is not ready to do the work, we as a community have been doing some communal work, including building some guilters just to make sure we rescue ourselves but at the end of the day, the water flowing into this community is more than what we can contain.”
Another resident of Umuabu community in Anaocha Local Government Area, Iyke Ezeene, lamented that water enters his house every time it rains, noting that part of his compound’s perimeter fence has been pushed down by the floods from the abandoned erosion site.
He said, “Since over sixty years of my life here, Water enters my house every time it rains. Part of my fence has been pushed down by the floods.
“We have molded another block to rebuild the fence, but we might not do it now because the flood might push it down again.
In Obeagu community, Anaocha Local Government Area, where Del-trazi Nig. ltd was paid N28,738,414.30 for erosion and flood control work, the community leader, Bartholomew Okafor, told Reporters that though he had just assumed office, there has never been any erosion control contract executed in the community.
“From what I know and what the previous leader said, there has never been any contract on erosion that has been worked on here. There are erosion sites in this community, but nobody has ever come to work on them.”
In Ahaba Oka, Enugwu Nanka in Orumba North Local Government Area, data from GovSpend platform showed that Saicom Integrated Services Limited was paid the sum of N16,017,774.23 for an erosion control project in the community but Reporters visited the community and found out that the project was never executed, while residents of the community lamented the destruction the erosion has caused them.
The Vice Chairman of the community, Mr. John Okorie, whose house is currently at the verge of sinking into the gully erosion that has taken over a major part of the community, lamented that he and many other members of the community will soon be rendered completely homeless if nothing is done urgently.
With the threat of homelessness by the erosion that has started digging some part of his fences, Okorie, who is currently down with sickness, said that many residents of the community have been displaced by the erosion and that no contractor has ever visited the community to do any work.
Okorie said, “It is a very big one just behind my house here. It is really disturbing. Problem is that as rain falls, it digs deeper and expands and that is how it has been taking more space in the community.
“It has gone beyond our control and at this point, there is nothing we can do about it. We did not know that the government awarded it to be controlled but even now, it is so big that I don’t know if there is anything the government can still do about it.
“As I am now, I have come to a conclusion to stay here just like other people because we don’t have anywhere else to go. Any day it wipes off my home, I will know it is like that.”
Some Contractors Evade Enquiries, Others Claim Work Done According To Specification
Why were the projects abandoned despite evidence of payments made to the contractor? Reporters made several efforts to contact the contractors and get an answer to this question.
However, the efforts made to the reactions of most of the contractors failed as they were evasive, some claimed that they executed the project according to the scope specified in the contract.
Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd which the Federal Ministry of Environment paid the sum of N12,334,526.10 in December 2023 for erosion and flood control works at Section 2 Umuabu, Adazi-Enu, through its registered email on CAC for an explanation on why the project was abandoned, but till the time of filing this report, the company has not responded to the email.
Brief information from the CAC website showed that Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd was registered on October 8, 2019, with its address at No. 3, Zenith Hills Close, Angwan-Fulani, Dakwa, Niger State.
Reporter on December 8, 2024 made the required payment to the CAC for the details of Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd, but a copy of certified extracts status report of the company signed and provided by the Registrar General of CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji (SAN) showed no details of the company except, “Date of registration: Nil; Postal Code: Nil; Email: Nil; Status: Inactive.”
In further searches for the details of Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd, details found on B2BHint, a platform that provides, “comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date information” of companies and business organizations, also confirmed that Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd was registered on October 8, 2019 with registration No: RC-1622570 and its address at No. 3, Zenith Hills Close, Angwan-Fulani, Dakwa, Niger State.
According to the data obtained from B2BHint, Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd status is inactive and identified persons with significant control of the company to include Siyaka Rasheed Ovoro, Siyaka Tijani, and Okpe Ibrahim Shaibu, a legal practitioner.
However, no contact details of Ovoro, Tijani and Shaibu were provided, and searches for their contacts on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and LinkedIn returned negative as similar names found on the social media platforms showed no connection with Khalidtech Global Concept Ltd.
Also, searches revealed that the Group Executive Chairman of Del-trazi Nig. ltd, the company that received N28,738,414.30 for Erosion and Flood Control works at Agbadani/Obeagu/Adama Nri General Hospital, Enugwu Ukwu Road, Anaocha LGA, is Hon. Engr. Charles Ezeani.
An email was sent to Ezeani on October 28, 2024, requesting information and explanation regarding the contract but there was no response till the time of filing this report.
Also, a message was sent to him on his LinkedIn account but he did respond to the message too.
Similarly, Eldov Transnational Services Limited, which was paid a total sum of N59,584,756.56 for Flood and Erosion control in Obeagu, Anaocha LGA, was registered on CAC on March 5, 2014, with registration No. 1175590, and with listed address at Suite 302, Anbeez Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.
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