Severe coastal and gully erosion along the banks of the Ekoli River is pushing Obogoro community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State to the brink of extinction.
Over three hundred houses, farmlands, and critical public infrastructure—including the community’s cottage hospital, primary school, NYSC lodge, and ancestral burial grounds—have caved directly into the river, leaving multiple residents dead and hundreds displaced.
Despite previous government contracts awarded for shoreline reclamation and canalisation, the project remains incomplete, leaving desperate families stranded as every rainy season worsens the devastation.
The once-vibrant Obogoro community in Bayelsa State is now a shadow of itself. Houses that took families decades to build now sit dangerously close to a sheer precipice, collapsing one after another into the surging currents of the Ekoli River.
With every rainy season, the river encroaches further into the heart of the town, swallowing up community landmarks. A football field, a primary school, and centuries-old ancestral burial sites have all been washed away, alongside property worth billions of Naira.
For many residents, the situation is a daily nightmare, leaving them with their hearts in their mouths. Janet Ese-Oghene, a mother of three, is among those trapped on the edge of the collapsing shoreline.
The destruction is not limited to physical property. Human lives have also been claimed by sudden riverbank landslides, with residents reporting horrifying incidents of neighbors being swept away in their sleep as stated by another resident, Joel Itortaziba.
The people of Obogoro have taken their cries for help to the highest legislative levels. Formal petitions have been dispatched to lawmakers in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, pleading for a joint Federal and State intervention to stop the rampaging waters.
However, despite a National Assembly inquiry over three years ago and contracts awarded by the Bayelsa State Government for canalisation and shoreline reclamation, stalled operations have left residents at the mercy of the elements. Community members argue that incomplete dredging attempts actually weakened the bank further, accelerating the erosion.
Convener of the Save Obogoro Community from Erosion Group, Mr. Ada Gwegwe said all efforts of the people to get attention to the menace had not yielded positive results.
President of the Epie-Atissa Peoples’ Congress, Obese Otasome Benjamin said most parts of Obogoro has been submerged into the Ekoli River with several lives and property lost in the process.
State officials say the scale of the disaster requires joint technical backing from Federal environmental agencies and the Ecological Project Office. Meanwhile, the residents of Obogoro continue to wait—hoping intervention arrives before their remaining homes are swept away.
Unless immediate government intervention is deployed, the entire Obogoro suburb risks disappearing off the map of Bayelsa State entirely.
