Eroded, flooded and raided by criminals, residents of Okpoko community in Anambra State feel abandoned by the state, report NWANOSIKE ONU and EMMA ELEKWA
It is no earthquake, but it continues to bring earthshaking misery upon its helpless victims. In the Southeast, erosion is a common nightmare. In Anambra State alone, there is said to be over 1000 eroded sites. As the state’s red, loose soil moves, it breaks up well-built roads, buries shops and sends households crashing down very deep craters and gullies. Communities have been cut off, farmlands swept away as though by powerful currents. Many have died. The agony endures.
Tears and appeals have hardly brought any relief. Despair has since set in among the people.
That sums up the plight of residents of Okpoko in Ogbaru Local Government Area of the state. They have continued to lament what they call infrastructural neglect by successive governments in the state.
The people of the area comprising three quarters – East-Niger, Nkpikpa and Central Okpoko – wonder whether they are truly part of the state.
Those who spoke with The Nation said the area had been devastated by gully erosion, making most roads in the area impassable.
Mrs. Benedict Ibeazor who lives along Aririonwu Street in Central Okpoko, said they have been subjected to perpetual suffering due to ecological problems.
She said, “Whenever it rains, the street is like River Niger itself because nobody comes out for fear of being carried away by flood.
“Most times people flee their homes to avoid being submerged by flood and no government delegations have ever visited the area to undertake environmental impact assessment on the level of degradable and deplorable conditions of the area.
“By this time last year, we lost about five lives to the menace of flood as a result of poor drainage system in Okpoko.
“We have a working governor; maybe he has not been told about the conditions of the people of Okpoko.
“We are suffering and we are beckoning on him to please do at least two or three kilometers road for us; we will appreciate it.
“The only good road we used to enjoy before was Obodo-Ukwu Road but come now, if you pass through Obodo-Ukwu Road it will take you about one hour to cover just less than two kilometers of road .
“The entire place is in a total mess. The governor, as a matter of urgency, should come and do a total reconstruction of Obodo-Ukwu Road and Ede Road and also help us dredge the Sacamori drainage.
“Once that is done, our people will be happy and they will continue to support him and the government of Anambra State.
Another local, Chief Samuel Okorienta lamented several lives lost to flood in the community.
He said, “It has been like a recurring decimal for our people to lose their lives during rainy seasons in this place.
“We have been alienated from the development plans of successive governments in the state.
“No government has ever remembered us including the incumbent state government.
“Thank God for the bravery of one wheel barrow-pusher who saved the life of a small child who nearly got drowned as a result of flooding in Okpoko area this year.
“When you get to Okpoko, you will have mercy on us because there is nothing like erosion or drainage control there and once it rains everywhere becomes flooded and people begin to scamper for safety.
“Last year, we lost so many people including four bank staff who were drowned in the flood. They lost their lives just like that and many other people in the community.
“Anytime it rains here, everybody will be in fear. It is either a building collapse or peoples’ property got damaged or they lose their lives to flood.
“Obiano should have mercy on his constituents and direct the commissioners for works and environment to come and see how streets are destroyed and environment is nothing to write home about.”
The lawmaker representing the area in the state House of Assembly, Noble Igwe regretted that his constituency had been in the dark for too long.
He said, “I don’t know whether my constituency is part of Anambra State because if it is, government wouldn’t allow us to suffer in perpetuity.
“Our people do not feel anything like government presence in my area. You will cry for Okpoko community if you visit the area.
“The whole place is in a very sordid condition. We do not have any single good road.
“The absence of good roads in Okpoko has led to the increase in crime because the security operatives do not have access to the nooks and crannies of the area to apprehend criminals.”
The lawmaker added, “We have a very big challenge when it comes to flooding. The only drainage system which is the sacamori in Okpoko is silted.
“The drainage is supposed to collect water from some parts of Awada, Fegge and the entire Okpoko down to Idemili River to the River Niger but for now, the Sacamori is filled up making flood to destroy people’s lives and property.”
Igwe said the community lost no fewer than five lives to flood in the area last year, expressing fear that it could be worse this year if nothing was done to mitigate the situation.
He implored the state governor, Willie Obiano to intervene and save them from the predicament.
“We are suffering and beckoning on our working governor to please do at least two or three kilometer roads for us, we will appreciate it,” he said.
Apart from the area being in perpetual darkness thanks to the Enugu Electricity Development Company (EEDC), one other problem facing the community is insecurity.
Hon Igwe said his constituents do not sleep for fear of criminals.
Igwe said virtually everything in his constituency was non-functional.
He mentioned that Okpoko Boys Secondary School, Okpoko Girls Secondary School and some others were all in very bad conditions such that students struggle through floodwaters to find their way home whenever it rained.
Another issue that called for concern, according to the lawmaker, was insecurity in Okpoko community.
He said there should be watertight security to reduce the crime rate in the area, pointing out that Ogbaru 1constituency had been in the dark for too long.
He added that it was time government remembered the constituency and included it in its development plans.
“Ogbaru 1 constituency is being ravaged by erosion, flood, poor housing facilities, absence of roads and other amenities as a result of neglect by past and present governments in the state.
Some of the streets The Nation visited in the area namely, Ogbudike, Nwokedi, Nicholas, Aririonwu and a host of others revealed no government presence in the area since the creation of the state.
Speaking with The Nation, Mrs.Benedict Ibeazor, who lives along Aririonwu Street in Central Okpoko said they had been subjected to perpetual suffering due to ecological problems.
She said whenever it rained, the street was like River Niger and nobody dared come out for fear of being carried away by flood.
Sometimes according to her, people fled from their houses to avoid being submerged by flood, adding that no government delegations had ever visited the area to undertake an environmental impact assessment on the level of deplorable conditions of the area.
For Samuel Okorienta, who narrated the ordeals people go through at Nkpikpa axis of Ogbaru 1 constituency, noted that it had been a recurrent factor for people to lose their lives during rainy seasons in the area.
He bemoaned the absence of drainage facilities as well as the menace of flood and erosion, stressing that they had been allegedly alienated from urbanisation.
Igwe said, “The absence of good roads in Okpoko has led to the increase in crime because the security personnel do not have access to the nooks and crannies; they can’t move about to apprehend criminals because of bad roads.”
“Also, we have a very big challenge when it comes to flooding .The only drainage system which is the Sacamori in Okpoko is filled up with sand and that drainage is supposed to collect water from some parts of Awada, Fegge and the entire Okpoko down to Idemili River and finally to the river Niger”
“But for now, the Sacamori is filled up making flood to destroy peoples’ property and lives. By this time last year, we lost about five lives to the menace of flood as a result of poor drainage system in Okpoko”
