The Nation Newspaper

Category: SouthEast

  • Anambra battles to free streets of beggars

    Anambra battles to free streets of beggars

    Beggars have invaded Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia, Umunze, Nkpor, Ihiala and Awka, among other towns in Anambra State, turning themselves into a problem. ODOGWU EMEKA ODOGWU reports that the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is taking steps to curb the menace.

    Like bees, beggars have swarmed cities in Anambra State, including Awka, the capital. The streets are congested with these beggars said to be numbering over 10, 000.

    They comprise corporate beggars, child beggars; graduate beggars, civil servant beggars, business beggars, lepers, cripples and paupers who beg for living on the streets. They position themselves in public places where sympathisers will see them and give them money or food.

    Some of the major cities where they are found are Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia, Awka, Umunze, Nkpor and Ihiala, among others. All efforts by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development have yet to yield results. They return as soon as they are taken to the rehabilitation camps. But the ministry is not resting on its oars. It has again, raided their lucrative points in its determination to end what it calls “a public nuisance.”

    The ministry says the beggars are dirty and do not know how to behave. It notes that their behaviour was not good for tourism, thereby causing a fall in government revenue. The clearing of the beggars, the ministry said, was intended to make them realise that begging lowers their dignity. A major reason for the action, it said, was to make them useful to themselves and the society by rehabilitating them.

    The presence of beggars in any society has social and economic implications as depicted in Aminata Sow Fall’s epic novel, Beggars’ Strike.

    Penultimate week, Rose Ali, a graduate of Linguistics and a civil servant with the Anambra State Ministry of Environment were among the 180 beggars taken off the streets.

    Rose, who is from Nimo in Njikoka Local Government Area of the state, was dramatic while being arrested. She is visually impaired. She insisted on seeing Governor Peter Obi before she could be stopped from her begging business.

    She said: “I will not go anywhere. You arrested me last year and dumped me at Nteje without giving me anything. Let Governor Peter Obi come himself so that we can talk. I am not a regular beggar but I beg when I run short of money. My sister died and I am begging to raise money for her burial.”

    Another beggar, Loveday Okonkwo from Imo State said he was begging in order to raise N50,000 needed for registering at the Disabled Craft Centre in Ikeja, Lagos, even as he admitted that begging is illegal.

    He appealed to Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha to come to his aid as he has no person to run to hence he sneaked out from Imo to beg in Anambra where he is not known.

    But other beggars including Habiba Adamu from Kaduna State begged for forgiveness and indicated interest to go back to their homes if spared of being taken to the Nteje Rehabilitation Camp.

    On her part, Mrs Nkechinyere Okeke who works for the Anambra State Waste Management Agency (ASWAMA), an arm of Anambra State Ministry of Environment uses her daughter Ginika Okeke for begging. She claimed she was begging to raise N80, 000 with which to treat her child.

    Over 150 parents who use their children for begging in major cities in the state were arrested and would be prosecuted by the Family Court.  Over 50 children used by their parents for begging were also arrested while others escaped.

    The ministry pledged that the over 185 beggars and destitute taken off the major cities of the state would undergo rehabilitation and empowerment while those who are not from Anambra State would be repatriated in agreement with their state governments.

    Of late, a combined team of social workers and security agents led by the Ministry of Women Affairs arrested no fewer than 200 beggars in the state capital.

    That day, beggars who “were” blind, deaf and dumb saw, heard and spoke while running for their dear lives. At Abagana, a blind woman with her guide was arrested. But while members of the vigilance group were still making arrangements on how to take her home, the woman and her guide ran away to the chagrin of onlookers.

    At Amawbia, a 70-year-old man from Nise who allegedly built a good house and trained his children up to university level with proceeds from begging was arrested. He said he would continue the business of begging till death.

    At UNIZIK Junction and Eke Awka axes, beggars ran as far as their legs could carry them. Two well dressed young men in their mid-twenties with cell phones held a laminated picture of a called Chizoba from Nsukka who was said to be suffering from stomach cancer.

    They wondered why anybody should arrest them when they were doing a legitimate business registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

    According to them, the least amount of money they make a day is N11, 000.

    But 16-year-old Useni Mohammed from Niger Republic said his father who is a driver at Onitsha gives him instruction on how much he must make from begging daily. He and his sister are known as “Emeka and Amaka.”

    Another beggar Mr Joseph Eze from Achi, Enugu State said he was a Yola-based businessman before he had an accident that forced him into begging. He appealed Anambra State government to give him N300, 000 with which to start business.

    The Director, Social Welfare Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Rose Udeagbara said the beggars were taken off the streets during an operation tagged “clear the streets of beggars and destitute.” She added that they have been sent to the vocational and rehabilitation centre at Nteje.

    Mrs Udeagbara further said: “At the vocational centre, the social workers did documentation of those arrested to enable the ministry to either rehabilitate them in any of the skill acquisition centres or repatriate and reunite them with their families.”

    She disclosed that majority of the beggars were not from Anambra State, stating that some are from Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Yobe, Plateau and other northern states while others are from Cross River, Abia, Rivers, Imo, Ebonyi and Enugu states. Lady Udeagbara decried rampant use of children by their parents in begging.

    The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Lady Henrietta Azuka Agbata advised parents to desist from using their children as money-making venture.

    Agbata said: “It is not right to use a child for begging and whenever we get such case, we get at those parents through their children and charge them to state family court. I see such parents as lazy. Let us stop abusing these children by trampling on their rights. Let us strive to send them to school, so that they will be beneficial to us and the society.”

    She noted that the campaign to get beggars off the streets was informed by commitment of Obi’s administration to sanitise the state and empower some of them who took to begging out of frustration as well as to ensure free flow of traffic on our roads. She added that the sick ones among them will be given free Medicare.

    Agbata insisted that families should take care of physically-challenged members of their families to avoid the nauseating situation which beggars and begging engender.

    “You can see that these beggars constitute nuisance. We will repatriate those who are not indigenous to Anambra State and rehabilitate those from the state by empowering them with skills within six months,” she said.

    At the rehabilitation camp, Lady Udeagbara was angry with one Mrs. Nkechinyere Okeke who uses her daughter, Ginika Okeke to beg.

    She said: “This woman was taken off the street in Awka last year. We rehabilitated her and, out of the magnanimity of the state government, she was employed as a staff of Anambra State Waste Management Agency (ASWAMA) in the Ministry of Environment to help her train her child. Being stubborn, she is still begging with that child.”

    Principal of the Vocational/Rehabilitation Centre, Nteje, Mrs. Chinyere Iguomu said the centre accommodates the beggars for some days before letting them go.

    “We only allow them to stay here for a day or two before discharging them. Although, it is not enough to acquire the needed skill, government is not forthcoming in terms of their upkeep. We have written many memos to that effect but there were no responses from the government,” she said.

    However, the Commissioner dismissed the allegations as unfounded.

    The raid on beggars has received commendation from residents. Mr Onyenwe Anagor said “what Governor Obi-led administration is doing with regard to clearing beggars from the streets is good because they constitute nuisance.” He, however, appealed to government to rehabilitate them.

  • Anambra APC begins registration of members soon

    Anambra APC begins registration of members soon

    The All Progressives Congress APC will begin the registration of its members in Anambra State soon .The hint was given in Awka by the party’s Interim Publicity Secretary in Anambra State, Mr. Chukwuma Agufugo.

    It would be recalled that APC conducted registration of its members before the November 16, 2013 Governorship election.

    Agufugo, while speaking with our correspondent in Awka, said though there was such exercise before the election, that there were challenges during the exercise.

    The challenges, according to him, were that the register sent to the state did not have polling numbers on them, while those who were incharge of the registration had problems of spelling names correctly because they were not from the area.

    He said that the national leadership of APC would soon send new registers to Anambra like the way they did to other states during the recently held registration exercise in the states.

    As at the time of filing this report, the interim state executive of APC was about to meet at the party’s state office along Zik Avenue to discuss the issue and perhaps pick a date for the exercise.

    According to Agufugo, we are going to meet with the party executive members to discuss on the way forward in our party especially, as it concerns the registration of members

    “And I believe within a short time, the party will come out with a new date for the exercise in Anambra, and those areas we had challenges before will be taken care of”

     

  • Philanthropist donates brush cutters to school

    Philanthropist donates brush cutters to school

    The joy of the pupils of Government Primary School, Ajalli, in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State,knew no bounds on Monday as two brush cutters worth over N1 million were donated to them by Mr. Godwin Ezeemo.

    Ezeemo was the governorship candidate of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) during the November 16, 2013 election in the state.

    The brush cutters were the promise he made to the school when he visited the pupils in October, 2013 during one of his campaigns.

    The pupils, their teachers and the entire community were all in smiles as the donation was being made.

    Addressing the pupils and their teachers, Ezeemo said that his heart was touched when he visited the school last year and saw the sufferings of the under aged trying to cut the bush called school field.

    He said the provision of the brush cutters was to make sure that the innocent children were shielded from snake bites, adding that the over grown field could produce reptiles.

    The headmistress of the school, Mrs. Ezeohake Felicia, praised Ezeemo for the gesture, adding that they thought his promise in 2013 was another political one.

    She prayed to God to guide and protect the donor for remembering a poor community school and its students.

    Also, the President General (PG) of the women wing in the community, Mr. Alice Orji-Obasi, who doubles as the education committee chairman in Ajalli, said that if people like Ezeemo could hold powers, the state would not be the same again.

    She said: “God will reward you for remembering the children, God will make you to be that which you promise to be in Anambra, God will not forsake you for putting smiles on the faces of these children”.

  • Abia monarch celebrates anniversary

    Abia monarch celebrates anniversary

    The traditional ruler of Aba in Aba North Local Government Area of Abia State, His Royal Majesty (HRM) Eze Isaac Ikonne the Enyi 1 of Aba has marked both his 85th birthday and 41st anniversary celebration on the throne penultimate Friday. Though the celebrations were supposed to be joyous, an unsavoury incident would have made them events to be regretted.

    At the event, the Deputy Governor Chief Emeka Ananaba was already seated at the Boys’ Trade Centre (BTC) Aba, venue of the event. In terms of protocol, no other individual would come into the arena as it was expected that everybody would have been seated before the governor or his deputy comes into the event venue.

    The Deputy Governor was already seated and the ceremony was in progress when some siring-blaring vehicles drove into the venue of the event. It was Chief Reagan John Ufomba, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2011 general elections.

    Regarded as an affront to the personality of the Deputy Governor, his security details moved to stop the vehicles from driving into the venue.

    To avoid any fracas, the Deputy Governor called back his men and stopped them from confronting the convoy of Ufomba from driving into the school premises. However, they succeeded in stopping the siring from blaring and disrupting the proceeding. While this was going on, Ufomba’s supporters were ready to confront the security details of the Deputy Governor, when Ufomba called them to order.

    But for the mature manner the two men handled the situation, there would have been bloodshed.

    The incident forced the two Master of ceremonies Linda Osuoha and Godspower Nwagbara to insist that the programme is not a political rally or ground for political campaign, even as they insisted that there should be no party slogans, as the celebrator is a man of peace who would not want crisis to erupt at his ceremony.

    It was after the announcement that the political maturity was displayed, as the APGA governorship hopeful in the state immediately alighted from his car, directed his people to stop all the vehicles as the Deputy Governor who was representing the governor, Chief Theodore Orji and his wife, Mrs. Nene Ananaba who represented the President’s wife, Dame Patience Jonathan and the governor’s wife, Lady Mercy Orji were already seated.

    Ufomba quickly walked towards the celebrator, Eze Ikonne greeted him and apologised for coming late and had no intention of disrupting the ceremony. He also walked to the Deputy Governor and his wife and apologised, saying that he was sorry for what happened since he never knew that they were already seated, which the Deputy Governor accepted. They immediately embraced themselves.

    The action of the two politicians at the venue of the celebration took the supporters of Ufomba unawares as they were surprised at the behaviour of their principal. Some of them were already angling for a fight with the security details of the state Deputy Governor.

    The ceremony started with the celebrator’s welcome address which was read by one of his sons. He thanked Governor Theodore Orji and his wife for their outstanding achievements in repositioning the state for accelerated growth and development in the state.

    Eze Ikonne said: “It is worth mentioning that your efforts at promoting good governance, protection of lives and properties, economic growth and infrastructural development in the state are yielding the desired results. Today, Abia State is a haven for peace, a vital ingredient for sustainable development.”

    He used the forum to plead with the governor to heed to the voice of the people of the state, especially the Abia Central Senatorial zone by vying for a seat at the Senate, saying that the voice of the people is the voice of God.

    “You have done well and the people cannot afford to lose your kind of political potential in the political arena for now,” he said.

    The monarch later conferred on the wife of the President, Dame Jonathan a chieftaincy title of Ada Ugo 1 (priceless daughter) of Eziama, Aba and the title was received on behalf of the President’s wife by the wife of the state Deputy Governor, Mrs. Ananaba.

    Eze Ikonne further said she was chosen for the honour because of her outstanding qualities and her drive for human development which he said has impacted positively on the women and children of the country.

    Speaking after the investiture, Dame Jonathan thanked the royal father for the honour bestowed on her and promised to keep working and supporting her husband to ensure a peaceful country where the citizens will have the freedom to express themselves without any fear.

    In his speech, the governor, who was represented by his deputy, congratulated the celebrator on his double anniversary. He prayed that God should grant him more rewarding years and good health to continue to serve his people.

    The next chieftaincy title of Agbawo dike izu (decisions cannot be taken behind a strong man) was conferred on Chief Ufomba, who quickly after the conferment went to greet the Deputy Governor, who embraced him and congratulated him on his new title.

    At the end of the ceremony, the Deputy Governor walked to the canopy where Ufomba sat with his wife, friends and supporters to greet him before leaving for Umuahia.

    People praised their show of maturity, saying it was an exemplary display of politics without bitterness.

  • 400 firms for Enugu International Trade Fair

    The President of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Dr Ifeanyi Okoye , has said that more than 400 companies had indicated interest to participate at the 2014 Enugu International Trade Fair.

    Okoye made this known when he visited the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Ima Niboro, in Abuja.

    He said that the participating corporate organisations would include more than 25 companies from India, China, Indonesia, UK, Malaysia, US and South Africa.

    He added that the visit was to solicit the support of NAN in ensuring the success of the fair, the 25th edition, billed for March 28 to April 7.

    He disclosed that arrangements were being made by the chamber and Enugu State Government for the fair with the theme: “Increasing the Competitiveness of Nigerian Products in Global Market” .

    The fair will be declared open by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Okoye said that agriculture would play a central role at the fair, saying that the fair would specifically help to boost agricultural production and commercial farming.

    He said that new products, prototypes, innovations and research findings would be displayed at the fair.

    He assured that efforts had been made to provide security and necessary infrastructure, including power and water at the fair site.

    Okoye said that the chamber was collaborating with the state government to provide the facilities.

    He said that two 500 KVA generators would also be provided for use in case of disruption in public power supply at the fair venue.

    “We have become familiar with the environment and will use our experience gathered in the past to create more ambience to make the environment friendly, through improved and systematic allocation of space to participants,” he said.

    The ECCIMA President praised NAN’s efforts in advancing free enterprise and sustenance of democracy in the country.

    Replying, Niboro pledged the agency’s support in making the fair a success, especially as the 2014 edition would be the silver jubilee of the fair.

    He urged the chamber to ensure that its activities aligned with the economic transformation agenda of President Jonathan, noting that the administration had supported indigenous entrepreneurship.

    “In the past few years, Nigeria has achieved the impossible in regards to economic development,” he said

     

  • Transforming Imo health sector

    Transforming Imo health sector

    The Imo State government will make healthcare accessible to all, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Edward Ihejirika, has said. He told reporters in Owerri, the state capital, that the Okorocha-led administration adopted policies and programmes to realise its health objective in order to rejuvenate the sector.

    The government, he said, had put facilities and structures in place to take care of all citizens, especially expectant mothers and children.

    Noting that government is aware of the plight of mothers and pregnant women, Dr Ihejirika said government has resolved to make maternal care free in the state, adding that all healthcare centres across the state have commenced full implementation of the programme.

    However, the people are clamouring for action on the part of government to improve the health sector in the state. Majority of those who spoke with our correspondent said the health system in the state has gone awry.

    Most complaints came from expectant mothers who told our correspondent that pregnant women in the state are going through unsavoury situation.

    To understand their complaints, our correspondent visited the maternity wing of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri, the Imo State capital. Investigation reveals the shocking ordeal of expectant mothers in the state, as they scale through hurdles to access low quality healthcare at exorbitant rates.

    The women who are crowded in a stuffy ‘waiting’ room are made to wait endlessly for the few doctors and nurses available to attend to them. There are instances of women who were delivered of their babies in the waiting rooms and balcony after hours of labour without any form of attention.

    As early as 5:30 a.m. everyday, hundreds of pregnant women across the state converge at the maternity wing of the hospital. They will spend the whole day there. Though the few available doctors work tirelessly to attend to the women, the ratio of expectant mothers per doctor far outweighs what can allow for efficiency.

    To further compound the challenges of the expectant mothers, is the imposition of exorbitant and illegal charges by the hospital authority. For example, an expectant mother pays as much as N20,000 on her first registration and deposits as much as N50,000 on the day of delivery.

    Although in most states across the country, maternal care for expectant mothers is free, Imo State is yet to kick off the free maternal programme even after Governor Rochas Okorocha announced it in a public event.

    The poor state of public hospitals and health centres in the state, has not helped the plight of expectant mothers in the state, some of who are forced to patronise quacks and uncertified hospitals.

    Narrating her ordeal, Mrs. Ujunwa Uzowuru, one of the expectant mothers said that ”at the FMC, expectant mothers are treated with utter disdain and reckless abandon. You can imagine where an expectant mother has to wait from morning till evening to see a doctor under very unsatisfactory conditions. Most times, doctors run out of patience as a result of the number of women they have to attend to.”

    She further said: ”I am scared each day of my appointment due to the harrowing experience. No matter how early you get to the hospital, the number of expectant mothers are so much that you can’t even find a place to sit down. And any office you enter, you are asked to pay one fee or another.”

    Another expectant mother who didn’t want her name mentioned, lamented that, ”for two weeks now I have been coming to get the result of the tests I did. But in other places, it takes less than an hour to get such result. At a point, I was told that they have missed the sample and my fear is that it is possible that the samples for the test can be mixed up and one could be given the wrong diagnosis.”

    At the delivery ward, the story is the same. Some of the women who have been delivered of their babies but could not afford the exorbitant bills are detained by the hospital authority.

    A senior member of the hospital management who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the influx of expectant mothers in the hospital is straining the available facilities and staff capacity, adding that the near collapse of the public healthcare system in the state is responsible for the situation.

    He said: ”We are trying our best to cope with the challenges. Imagine on a daily basis we attend to between 450 to 500 expectant mothers and the figure is almost the same with delivery cases. I think the reason is that government-owned hospitals are not working because if the public health institutions are functioning as they should, they will take away the burden from the FMC.”

    Meanwhile, the few public hospitals in the state are poorly equipped and managed; a situation that eroded public confidence in the ability of the hospitals to deliver quality healthcare services.

    At the Specialist Hospital Umuguma, the doctors and other health workers are constantly agitating for improved remunerations, resulting in frequent strike actions, which had further paralysed its operations.

    The government hospitals, according to Chief Paul Ezihe, a retired health worker, became comatose after the state government leased them out to private operators, a decision he said, was strongly resisted by experts and stakeholders.

    He said: ”Public healthcare delivery in the state is at the verge of total collapse. Except something drastic is done urgently, the drift may continue. You can imagine a situation where the only functional public health institution in the state is the FMC. Granted that the government is building new hospitals, swifter measures should be taken to revive the existing ones.”

    Although the Imo State government is building new general hospitals in each of the 27 local government areas of the state, experts are of the opinion that interim measures should be taken to provide quality healthcare to the people of the state.

    We appreciate the state government’s efforts in that direction, but the people should be provided with affordable and quality healthcare delivery. In Imo State today maternal mortality rate is on the increase because  most pregnant women, especially those in the rural areas cannot access medical services.

    “There should be functional health centres in every community and that will bring healthcare to the door step of the people and increase life expectancy which had dropped drastically in the state”.

    When contacted, the commissioner for health Dr Edward Ihejirika said the state government have put facilities and structures in place to take care of pregnant women and children.

    He said the government is aware of the plight of mothers and pregnant, thus, the government result to make maternal care free, adding that all health care centres across the state have commenced full implementation of the programme.

  • Chime to restore Enugu’s lost glory

    Chime to restore Enugu’s lost glory

    Enugu,  the coal city, clocked 100 years few years ago. Plans to mark the milestone were in top gear by the state government before its abortion. The Sullivan Chime administration planned that the entire former Eastern Region will go into wild celebration to mark the 100 years of the founding of the town by the Colonial Masters. But that could not hold due to political differences among some political personalities in the state. The chairman of the centenary celebration committee was Chief John Nnia Nwodo, a former Minister of Information. Nwodo resigned his appointment in the middle of the intense struggle of who to control the political structure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between Governor Sullivan Chime and the then national chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, a sibling of the chairman of the centenary committee.

    With everything put in place– billboards, radio jingles, souvenirs among others, Enugu was set to host the world in December 2009. It would have been an opportunity to showcase the natural and human potential which abound in the coal city. But it never took place, and Enugu, the city of coal, thrives on.

    Enugu came into existence in 1909 after the discovery of coal by the Colonial Masters. The discovery of coal in Enugwu Ngwo, one of the 10 villages of Ngwo clan, was incidental. It was from this village that the town derived its name Enugu up till this day. And the story goes that in 1908, a British expedition on its way to the Middle Belt from Awka, sighted the hill at Enugwu Ngwo and reported back to Lagos.  Interest in the hill compelled the colonial government to send a team of mining engineers to the area in 1909 to prospect for silver.  But the team, led by Engr. Kitson, struck coal instead.

    Another team of mining engineers led by W. J. Leck, arrived in Enugwu Ngwo in 1914 to open up a coal mine.  They arrived with a team of African labourers under the headship of one Alfred Inoma from Onitsha.

    The Europeans settled on top of the hill at Ngwo now called Hilltop.  At the slope to the south, they set up another settlement for the African labourers.  The settlement is known as Alfred Camp or Ugwu Alfred.

    Both settlements have expanded.  The hilltop settlement has been modernised and extended to the place where the Enugu State Broadcasting Service has its transmitting station.  The Alfred Settlement, a cluster of mud houses, quaint to behold, can be sighted on a walk along Murtala Mohammed Way (Kingsway Road) as one nears the the old site of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital.

    With an eye on the plains of the Udi Hills, the government, in 1915, constructed a road linking the hill station to the plains.  Called the Milliken Hill Road named after the head engineer roads, a ride through the 4.8km road is a bend-drive course at a speed of 8km per hour. And soon after the opening of the coal mine in 1915, the management of the colliery embarked on massive recruitment of labourers to work in the mines. The then colonial governor, Lord Fredrick Lugard had, as early as 1912, decided that the Enugu Coal Field would be worked as a state industry in contrast to tin being mined in Jos as a private enterprise. This, he reasoned, was because of the importance of coal in the development of the Nigerian economy, coupled with the difficulty which he thought would be experienced in finding labour to work in the coal mine.

    “I understand that except by compulsion, it is impossible to get labour in Southern Nigeria,” Lugard had said. He argued that since the government would have to provide force to regiment the labour, government might as well work the coal field itself.

    By the first year of its operations in 1916, the colliery had in its register about 800 daily paid labourers, who in addition to the better established technical cadre made up of clerks, technicians, foremen, continued a huge influx of immigrants to thecity at the early stage of development. While these later grade of workers came from districts outside Enugu in such far away places like Sierra Leone, Calabar, Warri, Owerri, Benin, Onitsha, Port Harcourt and so on, most of the labourers were from the neighbouring villages in the then Udi Division.

    Within the next couple of years, over 3,000 men were working in the Enugu Colliery, while the Eastern Railway line that passes from Port Harcourt through Enugu to the North had about 5,000 labourers, majority of who had made Enugu their residence. These immigrant settlers who came with their families and relations constituted a big strain on the young town since there were yet no permanent residential structures there. This posed a new challenge not only to the Colliery Management, but also to the colonial administrative officers posted to the town, who as an interim measure, had embarked on erection of Colliery Villages to accommodate the coal miners.

    In 1917, Enugu was declared a second class Township and divided into four zones viz- the European Reservation Area, the Neutral Zone, the Residential and Business Area and the Native Locations. A township Advisory Board was set up to take care of the political administration of the area. In 1920, the colonial government moved down the administrative headquarters of the then Udi Division to Enugu Township and renamed it Enugu Ngwo Division. But this lasted for a while as the headqarters were again transferred back to Udi 1929 as a result of several logistics problems connected with administering the entire division from the township.

    One aspect of Enugu which most people do not know, even those who now claim authority of the city is that Enugu was once the headquarters of the Southern Provinces. Before transferring back the Udi Division headquarters to Udi, the colonial government had decided to move the headquarters of  the Southern Provinces comprised of Onitsha, Ogoja, Owerri, Calabar, the Cameroons, Ijebu, Oyo, Abeokuta, Ondo, Benin and Warri Provinces from Lagos to Enugu. This was due to mainly the importance of coal to the development of the economy of the country. Enugu remained the capital for 10 years from 1929 to 1939 when the Southern Provinces was split into two – the Eastern and Western Provinces with headquarters at Enugu and Ibadan respectively. While the Eastern Provinces comprised Onitsha , Ogoja, Owerri, Calabar and the Cameroons, the Western Provinces was made up of Ijebu, Abeokuta , Oyo, Ondo , Benin and Warri.

    The citing of the administrative headquarters of the Southern Provinces in Enugu in 1929 had brought about the setting up of various administrative structures with civil servants recruited from different parts of the country to man these structures. There were civil servants recruited from Ibadan , Calabar , Benin , Abeokuta , Warri, Ondo, Aba , Owerri, Onitsha , that took residences in Enugu . Even after Ibadan became an administrative capital along with Enugu , many of these civil servants still elected to remain behind to work in Enugu . This was primarily due to the friendly disposition of the people of the area.

    In 1928, two Africans were for the first time, appointed into the Enugu Township Advisory Board. They were John Anyansi and Lawrence Onwudiwe. The Latter was forced to resign in 1931 following his indictment on corruption charges. He was replaced by A. R. Broderick, a prison contractor from Benin . This was followed by the appointment of Chief Sani, a Yoruba, into the board in 1936. With the death of both Broderick and Sani, C. D. Onyeama from Eke, Udi division and S. A. Strong, a Sierra Leonean, were appointed to replace them.

    The first democratic election into the newly constituted Enugu Urban District Council was held in 1953. Those elected into the council included Samuel Wilson, Dominic Oluka, Lawrence Ezechi, Sam Anyogu, C. O. C. Chiedozie, Michael Ajoku, B. C. N. Okeke,Josiah Agu, John U. Okoro, D. T. Inyang, S. Odume. Walwin Ebreneyin, G. K. Igwe, Gabriel Agbo, Nelson Onwudiwe, Joseph Ogbu, Ezekiel Eze, Michael Onovo, D. A. Nwandu, Hermas Adigwe and Patrick Ozonu. The councilors sitting among themselves later elected Walwin Ebreneyin, an Urhobo man as the chairman of the council with Patrick Ozonu from Ngwo in Udi Division as his deputy.

    And in 1953, Mr. Ebreneyin was succeeded as chairman of the council by Mallam Umaru Altine, a Fulani cattle dealer from Sokoto. Altine later became the first Mayor of Enugu when the City was elevated to mayoral status in 1956.

    In 1967, a committee under the chairmaqnship of the then Attorney General of the former Eastern Region, Dr. Graham Douglas, recommended the creation of 20 provinces in the region and 33 divisions. Enugu in addition to retaining its position as the capital of the region, was as well granted a provincial status with F. O. Iheanacho from Owerri as the administrator. He was later replaced by C. C. Onoh. And in the same year, when Republic of Biafra was declared, Enugu became its capital. And at the end of the civil war in 1970, it became the capital of the defunct East Central State and later the capital of the old Anambra State when East Central state was split into two – Imo and Anambra states. Today, Enugu is the capital of the state named after it, Enugu State .

    At the time the planning of the aborted centenary celebration was on, Governor Chime had this to say about Enugu: “Our city has contributed so much to our lives and businesses and this is the time to show appreciation by supporting the Centenary celebrations.

    “We are celebrating a city with great significance, an enduring and rugged city which has stood tall in good times and bad times, in times of peace and in times of war.”We are celebrating a city which means different things to different people but means one thing to most of us- a home.”I remember with nostalgia growing up in this city, the diverse experiences we had and the many friends we made from far flung places because Enugu was and is still home to all. ”When my father who was a parliamentarian sat in the Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly, he did not only sit with the Nwodos, he sat with the Akpabios, the Emoles, the Imokes, the Okparas and many others. For us children, we neither knew any divide nor did we reckon with tribes, we were simply Enugu boys and girls and we had great fun.So today we celebrate the city that held us all together, a city where I, like many others here today was born.”A city that was home to the great Eyo Ita, the first premier of Eastern Nigeria and the Zik of Africa, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe.  ”A city in its dynamism produced sports legends like Dominic Nwobodo, Emmanuel Okala, Christian Chukwu, JayJay Okocha, Innocent Egbunike and great actors like Chika Okpala-Zebrudaya, Pete Edochie, Nkem Owoh, Patience Ozokwor, Kanayo Kanayo, Zack Orji and many others.”In every facet of human endeavor Enugu has produced notable icons, be it in medicine, law, media or academics and because of these giant strides, we think it is important to celebrate our great past. In doing this we also want to look at where we are now and draw a road map for the future. ”When we mounted the saddle in May 2007 we met a mountain of challenges which we have studiously   confronted, ranging from infrastructure collapse, poor city sanitation, insecurity, incapacitated transportation system and many more. We discovered though sadly that if drastic actions were not taken we were at the brink of losing our dear city hence our aggressive approach to urban renewal and our effort to make Enugu a modern city.”I am glad that today our efforts to renew, reclaim, recreate and restore Enugu are yielding fruits and that millions of people who turned their back to our beloved city are now returning home. Our hospitality industry is booming again and tourists are flooding back. ”One of the things we want to do is to focus attention on the great potentials inherent in our state and zone and the new opportunities available to investors, entrepreneurs and visitors.”

  • ‘UNTH has state-of-the-art facilities’

    ‘UNTH has state-of-the-art facilities’

    Ihemegbunem Okafor is an Enugu-based journalist. Recently, he had some health challenges regarding his heart. He was treated at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku/Ozalla. Okafor in this piece narrated his experience at the UNTH.

    He volunteered to make his experience public as a response to some newspaper publications, particularly by a columnist with a national daily who wrote that UNTH lacked most basic facilities “that are found even at the small private clinics elsewhere.”

    Okafor said: “After reading the article, I wondered if the excellent medical services and equipment at UNTH where I underwent open heart surgery in March last year had become so bad by September as the article tried to paint. I am not holding the fort for UNTH or trying to say that there are no minor lapses at UNTH which operates within the Nigerian environment.  Continuing, he said: “As a beneficiary of UNTH’s good medical services and equipment at the highest level (open heart surgery), I think it is necessary for me to let Nigerians know that UNTH is quite on track as National Cardiothoracic Centre of Excellence. And this is what necessitated this rejoinder to Mr. Ezechukwu’s article.

    “In February this year, I woke up one morning and discovered that my breathing was not normal as my heart was beating faster and louder. I went to UNTH; Ituku/Ozalla to know what has gone wrong with me.

    “On arrival at UNTH, I met an efficient workforce. After the necessary protocol of registration and obtaining a card, the doctor I met at the General Out-Patient Department (GOPD) referred me to the Clinical Measurement Unit for echo and ECG examinations.

    At the hospital’s echo room, I met a highly dedicated cardiologist, Dr. Emmanuel Ejim, who attended to me efficiently. And through the accurate and sophisticated echo machine at the hospital, it was discovered that I had a tumour (growth) inside one of my heart chambers (left atrium). The tumour is called myxoma. According to the doctor, it was like a time bomb waiting to explode since it could occlude the mitral valve or cause stroke or sudden death without notice.

    “The only treatment, according to the doctor, was surgical removal of the tumour. So, I was asked to go for heart surgery. Luckily for me, UNTH is the only hospital doing open heart surgery in Nigeria.

    “I was admitted for the open heart surgery on March 13, last year. 1 had no choice of ward where I would stay for my heart surgery but I was given a suite at the hospital private suites and this was where I stayed till I was discharged from the hospital on March 27, 2013 after a successful surgery.

    “While I was in the hospital being prepared for the open heart surgery, the doctors, nurses and other medical personnel that had anything to do with me took very good care of me so much so that I had to direct my younger brother, Akachukwu who came to stay with me in the hospital to go home.”

    Mr. Okafor while he was in the hospital, he was in good hands and was treated like a king to the extent that the hospital dieticians took record of his choice of food. His private suite had everything to make him comfortable, even as he said there was a refrigerator, a plasma cable television, an air conditioner and a ceiling fan. The windows and doors had mosquito nets while there was a big electricity generating set that supplied light to the hospital anytime there was public power outage.

    “While I was being prepared for the surgery, the consultants, doctors and nurses attended to me as and when due. The porters were ever ready to go on errands for me; hence there was no need for any of my relations to stay with me.

    “One week after I was admitted in the hospital, doctors confirmed that I was fit for the surgery both mentally and physically.

    So, on March 20, 2013, I was wheeled into the ultra-modern cardiothoracic theatre.

    “The cardiothoracic theatre at UNTH Ituku/Ozalla has state-of-the-art equipment that can compare with the best in the world. A visit to the theatre is like a visit to the best heart hospitals in Europe or America.

    “With the help of God Almighty, the UNTH Consultants, doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists and physiotherapists who displayed rare professionalism successfully carried out open heart surgery on me on March 20, 2013.

    He said: “After the surgery, I was wheeled into Thoracic Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital. The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of UNTH, Dr. Chris Amah came personally to congratulate me on the successful heart surgery.

    “At the ICU, 1 was treated like a newly born baby as the doctors and nurses handled me like a fragile object. The physiotherapists were very much on hand to teach me how to walk again.

    I will like to say here that with the help of God, the quality of care and medication I received at the ICU helped me to recover very quickly. My recovery was very rapid so much so that after four days of the surgery, I was moved back to the private suite.”

    He said the nurses and other hospital personnel at the private suites celebrated his comeback to the ward as shouts of Alleluia and praise God rented the air. The Matron of the private suites was so excited that she embraced him while dancing, waving hands and thanking God for his successful surgery.

    Mr. Okafor noted that since his recovery was very rapid, on March 27, 2013, two days after he came back to the private ward, a consultant, Dr. O. C. Nzewi came to his suite and after examining him, declared him fit to go home after signing his discharge papers.

    As he prepared to go home, Mr. Okafor said he felt nostalgic as he felt he was already missing good friends. The nurses on duty gathered to wish him well. As they waved at him, they asked him to always say hello to them anytime he goes there for his health checks.

  • Nsukka business community laments poor power supply

    The Allied Business Community, Nsukka, has expressed deep concern over the worsening power situation in Nsukka, Enugu State.

    In a position paper presented by its President, Comrade Okagu Augustine in Enugu, the group said poor power supply had crippled their businesses, adding that most of their members had already closed shops.

    The business community lamented that the power project at Nru Junction, which would have solved the acute power problem in the area, had long been abandoned.

    “We want to state with deep pain in our hearts that the power supply in Nsukka zone has gone from bad to worst. Epileptic power has killed our businesses, yet we are still paying relevant rates to the government.

    “In addition to this, we are being over-laboured with exorbitant estimated bill from the Electricity Distribution Company. It would have been a different scenario if we do enjoy the power supply to a reasonable extent, but the reverse is the case as we have continued to pay for power we never used.

    “As we talk to you today, over 50 percent of our members have either quit their businesses or retired to their villages owing to untold hardship occasioned by lack of power.

    “We are all aware of the high cost of diesel and the implication of using it constantly to run our businesses”.

    The group called on the Federal Government to all assistance to the contractor handling the Nru Junction Power project.

    “Government should ensure that the contractor returns to site and complete that project. Similar projects started in other parts of the country at the same time have since been completed and commissioned.

    “Our own case should not be different; government should be alive to its responsibility”, they added

  • Why buildings collapse in Nigeria, by expert

    Why buildings collapse in Nigeria, by expert

    Afam Nwana is the Chairman/CEO of Abuja-based Mosaf Group of Companies. In this interview with NWANOSIKE ONU, he explains why buildings collapse and proffers solutions to the problem.

    As the helmsman of MOSAF, can you tell us your achievements so far in the past 30 years?

    Effectively, MOSAF Nigeria Limited started operation in July 1986. We have been like a growing child. There was a time we were pursuing gatehouses, fences and boys’ quarters, clearing and all. But now, we are building skyscrapers and power plants. We are designing rail lines, building hospitals and schools.

    We are equally involved in project management and consultancy services, developing merger projects like rail lines, airports, cargo facilities and canals.

    We are happy that we are involved in the conceptualisation and development of some serious projects in Nigeria. We are now involved in building the biggest laboratory in the West Coast of Africa for Standard Organisation of Nigeria at Ogba Industrial Estate in Lagos which sits on almost 1.5 hectares of land.

    We are involved in such projects as planning of/and designing the Calabar and Lagos coastal rail lines in conjunction with our international partners. We are also involved in the construction of the Kaduna 230 mega watts power plant as well as the Wind Farm Development in Katsina. We are involved in solar farm in Jigawa.  So, MOSAF has come of age and we thank God that in the last 29 years, we have done well. But we wouldn’t have done all these without a team of dedicated and loyal staff that providence provided for us.

    What are your policy thrusts in terms of running MOSAF as an indigenous company?

    We are an indigenous construction company. In the circumstances, we, in 1992, started what we call reactivation of the Nigeria Chamber of Indigenous Contractors which I had the privilege of serving as the Secretary General. Incidentally, that was during Ibrahim Babangida’s regime. He asked us to come up with a construction policy which government would sign into law to check capital flight.

    I provided two offices with a secretary, a car and fully furnished offices for the Nigerian Chambers of Indigenous Contractors in Lagos with the aim of developing indigenous capacities, capabilities and competences.

    We put in place a policy framework, but the then government failed to implement the proposal.  Nigeria needs a signed construction policy as it obtains in countries like Israel, America, India, Australia and England.

    The construction industry can bring in a lot of money for Nigeria because if we have a policy and people are benefiting from it, we can export construction and generate a lot of foreign exchange for the country. That has been my goal in the last 20 years as the Secretary-General and Deputy Chairman of Nigeria Chambers of Indigenous Contractors.

    As a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, I have been training engineers and impacting on Nigerians positively.  MOSAF group has been training a lot of people and they are doing very well. We need a government policy that will help drive it to the next level.

     

    As an indigenous contractor and a foremost engineer in the system, how worried are you about frequent building s collapse? Again, are you not worried about issues concerning construction quality and the quality of delivery by your colleagues?

    When you have data, policy and law but you don’t implement them, what you get is chaos or anarchy.  The system cannot produce anything better. Buildings are collapsing because contracts are awarded to people who are practising contractors.  Everybody is a contractor.

    Contracts should be awarded to the right people based on the right policies guiding such process.  We have been talking about policy implementation. Let me mention one of the policies we are talking about.  We mentioned it to Babangida, and I remember I was singled out in the Senate building of the Tafawa Balewa Square when Babangida was the President. He asked if the indigenous contractors could build the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas. I raised my hand but I was not allowed to talk.

    Construction is about logistics. But let it be handled by professionals. What am saying about policy is that any big project in Nigeria that is above 50 million Dollars should be given to a foreign company but make a policy that a percentage of it must be carried out locally and those local contractors must be satisfied that these companies have competences and capabilities to carry out the task, while they could be supervised by big contractors.

    After executing five to 10 projects, the indigenous contractors would have gathered the experiences, competences and capabilities to execute complex projects. We are experiencing building collapse because we tend to contract out big jobs without proper supervision to ensure they do not use labourers instead of using skilled labour. When you give out a project on contract without adequate supervision, it is difficult to hold somebody accountable with regard to quality assurance.

    We should not forget the issue of corruption which is endemic.  When those supervising a project are after how to line their pockets with money, then they are not professionals. We have always emphasised that we should be given jobs and allow us to do it professionally.

    Since we have been in the industry in the past 30 years, no building which we have constructed has collapsed. Go and check our records. We stand to be challenged in whatever service we have delivered. But when you give projects to non-professionals, what you get is what you bargained for.

    Albert Enstein said that “everything is related”. Just as we are talking about construction engineering, it goes the same way with other professions which we all belong to. We have quack tailors, quack doctors, quack journalists, quack politicians and quack engineers. That is why we are experiencing building collapse. But none that we built has collapsed.

    In terms of regulations, how can government ensure quality assurance in the delivery of projects executed by indigenous contractors?

    Three things are necessary. First and foremost, there must be a Nigerian construction policy. Secondly, there must be a Nigerian construction bank. Thirdly, there must be enforcement of the laws that have been put in place.

    What will be the functions of the construction banks?

    When you have construction bank and construction policy, the problem of funding which results in cutting corners will be eradicated.  Every builder will be registered just like we have in other professions like the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) which is saddled with the responsibility of monitoring the activities of lawyers. When you go to the bank to take loan to do a job, they will check, the regulatory bodies will do the double checking and you will find out that one of the people who do a lot of checking is the bank. Before a bank gives you loan facility, it makes sure that a lot of things are in place.

    I have done jobs abroad and I know such things help to put check on the contractors. A contractor can’t claim to have built 10 or 20-floor edifice when he has never built a bungalow.

    One secret that is sustaining MOSAF is that whatever we have done, we did it through documentation.  Secondly, we don’t pay any money unless through the bank. So, the bank has been our accountant and auditor that check our books regularly.

    Those things help to instill discipline in the contractor because discipline is very important in quality and quality gives standard and standard gives sustainability. That is the role of a bank.

    In terms of quality delivery, time and competence of your engineers and basically quality assurance, what can you say are the landmark projects your firm has executed in the past 30 years?

    When we have finished executing projects, people always say they were executed by Julius Berger. This makes my engineers and members of staff angry. I will tell them to cheer up because it means that the project executed met international standard.

    But I want to tell you that we are matching them technology to technology, competence to competence and all that. The only thing we don’t have is patronage because we are not a foreign construction firm.

    In terms of corporate social responsibilities, how has your company affected the lives of members of your host communities, especially the less-privileged people?

    Everywhere we had worked, we ensure that we affected the lives of the people positively. In the Niger Delta region, we built halls and trained a lot of people in various fields.  In my community, Enugu-Ukwu, we empowered 371 widows.  We train orphans, we build schools and churches. We have a foundation called “The Friends of the Environment”, whose core mandate is cleaning the environment and the best environment to clean is your brain.

    You are where you are today because your parents cleaned your brain, that is the greatest environment, clean this environment and every other thing is cleaned.

    With the limited resources available to us, we have been able to impact positively on the education sector. We have trained over 169 graduates. The records are there to show.

    Your firm is 30 years old. What are your expectations of this company in the next 10 years?

    Rail line all through the West Coast, move about 100 million people along the West Coast, build a rail line along the West Coast to move human beings.  The greatest thing you can do to human beings is to move them. If there are trains for mass movement of human beings, there will be fewer disasters like air crash and road accidents. People will have alternative means of transportation. We don’t have a choice for now.

    In the next 10 years, MOSAF would want to play major role in the development of the country’s railway system.

    Are you investing in that technology; are you working with the government to that effect?

    Yes we are working with government and foreign concerns. What we need is to be supported.

    Which of the countries are you collaborating with?  Is your presence only in Nigeria or does it go beyond Africa?

    We are collaborating with firms in German, America, England, French in the area of rails development, construction of power plants and consultancy.

    In the area of project management, we collaborate with British firms, Asian firms and Hong Kong. We are collaborating with Indians on massive housing projects.