Gully erosion threatens Ekwueme Square, High Court complex in Anambra

The gully is already cutting off the road between Ekwueme Square and the State High Court, thereby exposing the temple of justice to possible imminent collapse.

The popular Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, the Anambra capital city, may cave into massive gully erosion if no drastic and urgent control measures are taken to salvage it before the rainy season sets in.

Already, parts of the facility, including the perimeter fence and changing room for an Olympic size swimming pool have collapsed into the burgeoning gully while the facility itself which has been in disuse since March 2020, is under immense threat.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that threatened also is the Anambra State High Court Premises and some public buildings in the environs.

The Ekwueme erosion site is a major ecological danger site which had in the past posed a serious threat to the Federal High Court Complex, Judges’ Quarters, Federation Secretariat and the moribund Anambra Government House which is now under construction.

The gully is already cutting off the road between Ekwueme Square and the State High Court, thereby exposing the temple of justice to possible imminent collapse.

The first intervention effort was done in 2019 when the then Nigeria Erosion Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) implemented Gully Rapid Action and Slope Stabilisation (GRASS) to control damage to houses and critical infrastructure in the area.

Though the GRASS intervention was able to stabilised the Federal High Court Complex, Federal Secretariat building and the Government House, it did not solve the entire problem but shifted it as has been manifested in the new challenge.

NAN also reports that NEWMAP in 2012 wound down operations in Anambra after 10 years of gully erosion intervention activities.

Reacting, Dr Felix Odimegwu, the state Commissioner for Environment, said the Ekwueme site was one of the numerous gully erosion threats facing Anambra.