A Non-Governmental Organization , Safe and Better Nigeria, has raised the alarm over the effects of rising sea levels in coastal communities, calling on the Federal Government to come to their rescue. The NGO revealed that most of the impacted communities in the Niger Delta region especially in Brass, Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State, South- South Nigeria, are facing extinction due to the constant rise in sea level caused by global warming. In a statement by its National Coordinator, Solomon Charles Ikpaka, SBN said if the federal and state governments do not come up with an action plan in the next 15 years, most of the communities would be washed away as the people risk losing their identity.
The NGO said there is a need to dredge the rivers to make the water channels deep enough to accommodate more water. The statement partly read, “The Safe and Better Nigeria (SBN) is very worried about the pathetic situation of the Niger Delta because, aside from the issue of ocean encroachment, the coastal communities are facing another monstrous challenge called ‘siltation. “Safe and Better Nigeria wants the Federal government and the Niger Delta governors to come together and chart the way forward to save our communities. “There is a need to dredge our rivers to make the water channels deep enough to accommodate more water; this will stop the yearly flooding which devastates homes and farmlands across the River Niger because of the shallow nature of the water channels. “All they need to do is dredge the River Niger, and then for communities along the Atlantic Ocean, they also need to do dredging work to reclaim land, if not, many of these communities will be underwater in the next 10 to 15 years.”
