Universal Design Principles & Elements

as follows:

At station 1 (Awka), one Mr. Charles Nweke Nwiyi of Amudo village Awka, was interviewed. He said that the gully originated over 20 years ago as small rills projecting from the Imo-Awka stream, which later degenerated to what it is today. He lamented that lots of properties worth fortunes has been lost through the menace and that he happened to be a victim as one of his landed properties which as at the time the first control project started was still intact, has now been totally engulfed by the gully. According to him the major cause was the late response of the government as if there has been an early intervention it would not have gotten to this level of massive debris fall and if left like this for the next few years, the worst will be seen. The responses of the other two people interviewed were in concordance with this.

116 At station 2 (Nanka) three of the villagers who were met at the site were interviewed. They said that the gully has been there for over 30 years, but it is getting worse by the day. They thanked the state government and other donor agencies for their recent intervention as the whole villages around should have been consumed but for their intervention. The eldest among them who identified himself as Papa Ejike stated that he has lived in that part of Nanka for over 50years and that the impact of the gully on the community cannot be over-emphasized as they have experienced loss of lives, properties, farmlands, and family inheritances due to the gully development. He said that there are cases of which some persons left their homes and ran away while others are emotionally traumatized as the next slide fall and submergence may hit their farms, houses and other landed properties unpredictably. The respondents here agreed that the soils of Nanka are really weak and prone to gullying unlike other soli types and the water flow direction moves inline with this weak zone, thus the major cause of the gully erosion menace. They suggested that the recent road construction and floodwater channel construction has really helped, therefore the state government and other agencies should do more.

At station 3 (Oba) one Mr. Okoye who claimed to have live in Oba for so many years while doing his business at Mgbuka-Obosi, stated that the gully was a rill branch of the Idemili river which started about 20 years back, but the recent massive development was due to sand excvavation and this has really made the whole area dangerous with lots of economic losses like loss of farmlands, devegetations, deforestation, and siltation of the Idemili river which seasonally kills lots of aquatic life due to tick muds introduced into the waters through the gully erosion and sand excavations. He suggested that the gullied areas be filled up, compacted again to increase its strength and the excavation activities chacked. Two others were interviewed who shared the same view with Mr. Okoye

At station 4 (Nnewichi) an old woman whose one storey building is few meters to being engulfed by a very large and scary gully was interviewed. She said as at the time she got married over 50 years ago, there were no gullies. The gully started after her father inlaw set up a wood sawmill in the area were little rills of a stream water channel passed through. She said the gully continued developing as all the promises made by the state government were not fulfilled. She voiced out that if not for the intervention of Dame Virgy Etiaba some

117 6years back, that the whole village could have been sunk down as before then ther road was cut off. On the part of the effects, she lamented that it was the worst thing that ever happened to her and her family as whenever she looks at the gully she will be looking at the sawmill which once was the major source of revenue for the family, she will remember the grave of her father inlaw which has been consumed. In her words, “in fact the daily thought and fear of my hushands house and grave being also swallowed up by this disaster gave me the hypertension I am suffering now”. She said that they have planted trees and grasses on their own as adviced by the agencies that had visited them earlier, but all ended up in the belly of the gully. She now suggested that the government and other non-governmental agencies should come to their aid. They two other people interviewed blamed the deplorable situation of the gully on the representatives of their constituency in Abuja and the member state house of assembly representing them sying that they have no other means of speaking to the government except through these persons.

At station 5 (Oraukwu), an old man and three women were met and interviewed at the site while collecting sample. The old man who vehemently refused that the sample will not be collected but agreed after so much explanation was of the opinion that many people com around from time to time to collect samples from the gully site, promising to do something but all end up doing nothing. The respondents stated that the major cause of the gully development is poor and inadequate response to the control processes. According to them the community have written to the state for help but their intervention was poor, even the gutters constructed earlier were done hapharzadly and failed overtime creating a wider scope of the gully. They said that the gully started little by little as rain water flood channel and since then has developed into a large one which now posses threat to their economic trees, farm crops, houses and many more.

In summary it is crystal clear that the negative effects of these gullies in the study area are too numerous to be over-emphasized. Also there lots of control measure already in place but the gullies still persists with their attendant negative effects. The agencies saddled with the responsibility of erosion control in the area are yet to try grouting and the professionals are in support that grouting should be experimented in the area. This is in line with the responses of the questionnaire where majority opined that chemical stabilization combined with the

118 present ciiviil engineering structures should be adopted to ensure longevity and better control gullying. It is note worthy that most of the inhabitants failed to accept that some of their activities aggravate these gullies, thus should be educated.

5.5 Test of Hypotheses