FW: Aba Ngwa
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Inno Oji
Feb 19, 2009, 6:55:32 AM2/19/09
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Umu Nnem,
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A lesson For All!
THE FAILURE OF GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIP IN NIGERIA:
ABIA STATE AS A PICTORIAL CASE STUDY (2)
ABIA STATE AS A PICTORIAL CASE STUDY (2)
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Only a life lived for others is worth living. (Albert Einstein)
All a man can betray is his conscience. (Joseph Conrad) In limited professions there's boundless theft. (William Shakespeare) What is dishonestly got vanishes in profligacy. (Marcus Tullius Cicero) We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. (Aesop) Dishonor waits on perfidy. A man should blush to think a falsehood; it is the crime of cowards. (Samuel Johnson) A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of understanding delights in wisdom. (Miscellaneous Proverb)  bia for 10 years now, is a state ruled by a family of liars, deceivers, scammers and leeches that latched on the "body" of the state while sucking out the whole blood out of it. That the people of the state are able to move about now is because we have dry season; once the rains set in, Abia state will become an eyesore and the people's movement will be impeded while businesses will grind to a halt. When the rainy season sets in, the best means for moving from point A to point B in Aba town will be by boat or canoe; I hope the government of Abia State will provide enough of them since it fails to repair the bad roads or to construct new ones.
Abia State has been reduced to filth by Orji Uzor Kalu and Theo. A. Orji as the photos below can attest. Everywhere and every corner of Abia State have been turned into a refuse dump.
Orji Uzor Kalu is not even qualified to be a councillor of a ward. Abia people went into a deep stupor to have allowed that neophyte and misfit to rule them for 8 years and worse still, allowed him to impose his stooge on them at the expiration of his tenure.
For this piece, let's concentrate on Aba Town in the state: Aba's misfortune perhaps began in the 1990s. Located on the Aba River, with over two million population, Enyimba City, as Aba is popularly called, was originally settled in by the Ngwa people who are the owners of the city (The owners of Aba are the people of Eziama, Eziukwu, Osusu, Ndi-Egoro, Umuokpoji, Obuda, Umuagbaghi, Umungasi, Umule, Ariaria, Ogbor, Ohabiam, Uratta etc), but, ceded the land temporarily to the British government through the Eziukwu - Aba community during the colonial era. Aba was an administrative centre of the British government, with a military outpost in 1901 and a railroad constructed in 1915 to link it to Port Harcourt, for the transportation of agricultural goods such as palm oil and kernels. The town in 1929 was where the famous Aba Women Riot, in protest of colonial taxation policy, took place.
This British administrative centre was called the Aba Division and it encompassed areas upto Obigbo (Oyigbo) in Rivers State and beyond, all administered directly from Aba. That's why presently; the agitation for the creation of Aba State is now renewed, because of the city's administrative history. The agitation for Aba State was the first in Nigeria, but, successive federal governments denied the people of that zone that right. The first request for Aba state was made in 1915 to the British Colonial Government.
In 1967, Aba was the capital of the short-lived secessionist state of Biafra whose capital was moved to Aba from Enugu as Nigerian troops advanced into Biafra from the north. Aba is surrounded by oil wells which separate it from the city of Port Harcourt, a distance of about 40 km.
There were days Aba used to beckon to all and sundry. But over time, its beauty has been slain on the altar of bad governance, greed, corruption, lawlessness and planlessness. Indeed, Aba is not only the big slum of the former Eastern Region; it also has the worst roads any eye can see.
Physically, the town is well connected, with roads leading into it from Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umuahia, Ikot Ekpene, and Ikot Abasi. The commercial city features a high concentration of small scale industries - and a number of sizable markets including the famous Ariaria market. It is densely populated and has a high ratio of artisans in its population. As a result of failure of leadership and governance in the state and coupled with an overwhelming influx of people, the town's waste management system has collapsed, turning it into the dirtiest city in Nigeria. Here, people live and work beside heaps of garbage.
This is not what Aba used to be. Fondly referred to as the Taiwan of Africa, the city has about the highest number of small scale industries on the continent. Aba's fame rests on its production of materials such as dresses, nails, metals works, bags, and shoes which are known as "Aba made".
Aba is a market town and that attracts people from far and near; it has a very big and important market in West Africa and traders from other countries do come to Aba to buy their goods.
Aba is the biggest and the most important city in Abia State as well as the state's life line; it generates more revenue and wealth than any other town in Igbo land because of the markets and the oil wells in the zone. But still at that, Orji Uzor Kalu and his mother starved the "milking cow" that made them all they are today. Orji Uzor Kalu and his mother were paupers in the 1980s when they hadn't political power or access to the corridors of power; their house then at Nweke Street Aba will attest to that, but, today, they are living like queen and prince at Margaret Avenue, GRA, Aba.
Aba is home for all. The Ngwa people are friendly and benevolent people that receive strangers with open arms. People came to Aba in penury but are today millionaires and billionaires. Every Igbo person either at home and abroad must have either lived in Aba or has a relation or friend living in Aba. All the communities of all the South-East States have at least a person from there living in Aba. Sadly, many non-Ngwa indigenes in Aba have taken undue advantage of the friendliness and benevolence of the Aba indigenes while others have misconstrued these virtues as signs of weakness on the part of the indigenes.
Let's look at all the four corners of Aba Town and we will notice the lack of government presence. Aba people have been on their own for too long; the only thing the Abia State government does is to impose levies upon levies on the people of the town and using the deadly and dreadful Bakassi Boys in collecting them (the levies), anybody that fails to pay will regret ever coming into this world.
At the center of Aba town; the area between the beginning of Milverton Avenue on one side and Park Road on the other, upto the Aba Town Hall, is no longer passable for motorists other than the buses and cars loading their passengers there. The touts and transporters have blocked that space in such a way that no car coming from either the Asa Road end or Aba-Owerri Road end, can pass through the Aba Park anymore and the Aba South LGA and the state government are doing nothing about it. Infact, nobody in Aba or the whole of the state, feels the impact or presence of any government. People behave the way they want or do anything they like because they are well aware that the governments at all tiers are only interested in maintaining themselves in power and for their selfish gains. That's why touts and their masters will block a major road at the most strategic and important point of it and still get away with it.
To get over the Aba Park area, motorists coming from Aba-Owerri Road and heading to Asa or Obohia or Ngwa or Port Harcourt Road are forced to use Eziukwu/Hospital Roads as a detour. While a motorist coming from Asa or Obohia or Ngwa or Port Harcourt Road and heading to Aba-Owerri Road or GRA or Umungasi or Abayi, will have to take either Hospital/Eziukwu Roads to J. Allen or Okigiwe Road/Brass Street.
A motorist from Asa or Obohia or Ngwa or Port Harcourt Road heading to Ogbor hill or Obingwa/Isiala Ngwa North and South LGAs or Akwa Ibom/Cross River States will have to take Azikiwe or St. Michael's or Park or Pound or Ikot Ekpene Road to the East side of it and from there to the bridge. While motorists from Ogbor Hill/Obingwa/Isi-ala Ngwa North and South LGAs or Akwa Ibom/Cross River States heading to Asa or Obohia or Ngwa or Port Harcourt Road will take the stretch from the East end. That's not how it is supposed to be!
The stretch from Aba -Owerri Road to Umungasi and Abayi upto the Express Road is impassable during the rainy season and the go-slow there can take hours in a stretch of road not upto 10 kilometres in length. From Osisioma till Umuobasi Amavo to Owerrinta area is in such a mess with pot holes everywhere.
The stretch from Ikot Ekpene Road through Ogbor Hill to Ehere to Ukpakiri till Akwa Ibom State is in disrepair with pot holes that motorists have to move in a zigzag form to avoid the thousand and one pot holes and some of them get involved in accidents in that process.
The stretch from Ovom through Ovom Girls´ High School to Azumini/Ohambele axis that was repaired during the time Chief Adolphus Wabara was the senate president (because it leads directly to his compound from Aba), has started developing potholes and nobody cares.
The stretch from Omoba Road to SDA Eastern Nigeria Conference Headquarters passing through the Pepsi bottling Company to the moribund glass industry to Itungwa/Itukpa and all the way to Omoba Town, has only potholes and nobody has cared to do anything on it for more than 20 years. Here, motorists have to be meandering from one side of the road to the other and accidents become a frequent occurrence as result of that.
The stretch from Old Umuahia Road through Mgboko to Mbutu Umunwoko to the Umuikaa Junction along the Enugu- Port Harcourt Road hasn't seen any maintenance since the Express Road was constructed, you can check out how many years ago that must be.
The Enyimba Hotel that has been under construction since ages and that is supposed to be an eyes catching landmark because of the conspicuous position it is occupying at the base of Ogbor Hill and the Aba River, has been turned into a home for the homeless and mad people. Thieves have stripped it of all fittings already installed and there is no hope or plan that the edifice will see the light of the day as a five-star hotel it was conceived as. The millions of Naira, perhaps billions of Naira, sunk into it by previous administrations, have gone down the drain.
The stretch from Ngwa Road through Obohia Road passing through Ohuru and to Obohia and Ndoki Towns in Ukwa West LGA is no more in use, grasses have taken it over, once one gets to Nnentu Village, the journey comes to an end because that stretch that led to Obohia Town has turned into a forest. Obohia Road is dependent on only one road.
It is near impossible to get into Ndi-Egoro (near the flood disaster section) both in raining and dry seasons and still, thousands, including the indigenes, are living in that section of the city. For people that cannot withstand ugly sights, eating after visiting that area might be only by will power. It is an indescribable sight. And yet those people living in that area are paying their tax and rate to a government that cares less about them.
The stretch from Brass through Faulks Road to Ariaria market, Ukwu Mango and Umule are in disrepair. What of Omuma Road from Ama Ogbonna to Achi Aru and Osusu Road? Which road can one name and which can one forget about?
Talking of the sordid condition Aba Town is in, Uduma Kalu while writing for Vanguard Newspapers captured the real pictures when he wrote:
The area like Port Harcourt Road (from No. 1 of it upto national High School and Ohabiam) is better seen than described during the rainy months. Port Harcourt Road, safe for the few dry season months, is a disaster. It is no more motorable. Everywhere is water logged. No drainage. It is totally cut-off. Many cars break down in Aba because the place is very bad. Port Harcourt and Uratta Roads might as well be the worst roads in Aba. Uratta Road is a very important road because it connects Port Harcourt Road to the Express Way and to Ariaria market, but, it is totally bad. The two roads are a disaster.
Port Harcourt Road connects two big important cities in the East. Not only that, it leads to states such as Delta, Bayelsa and other cities in Rivers State. Aba-Port Harcourt Road during the raining season is a washed away road with gullies filled with water on both sides of the road making journey here a nightmare. And that is what Aba is, a nightmare. Because for the users of this road, both pedestrians and vehicles, it is always a gridlock plying the road during the raining season! Pedestrians have to queue on end because of huge mass of water as they wait for a small space to open up before continuing their long trek. They struggle with bikes, truck pushers and themselves for right of way. Then, a big trailer or lorry will come lumbering about, wobbling and sprawling on the road. A mechanical work can start right on the middle of that ugly and deplorable road, thereby blocking whatever space that may be open for others to use.
Uratta Road is the only major road in that part of the town and as long as it is bad, there will be no road again in that area. People now struggle through their nose to earn their living. Because when you have bad roads, going out will be difficult. A resident of that area had this to say "The number one thing we need here is good roads. It is not a state capital. It is a commercial area. There is no much government investment here. You don't have government workers here".
In Aba, it is water here, water there and water everywhere on the roads during the rainy months. It is water that has also blocked and washed away the Uratta Road. The road is no longer motorable. It is like a big gutter filled with mud and dirt.
The Old Court Road vies off from the popular Ngwa Road. The problem here is that the drainage was blocked by those that heaped mountains of plastic materials such as jerry cans, buckets, gallons and other household wastes and no effort has been made by the state or local government to clear them on regular basis. Two depressions are visible here and water gathers in them, making it impassable for vehicles. Hence, big and small vehicles turned it into a parking lot.
Old Court Road is a very important road that can ease the traffic congestion on Mosque Road. There is a lot of pressure at Mosque Road. But when Old Court Road is repaired, it can now ease the traffic jam there.
According to Uduma Kalu of Vanguard Newspapers, a resident said:
"The government of T.A Orji is just a continuation of the outgone one. They are just the same thing. What they are doing is only patching the roads. They have no new project. There is no new road".
It is unfortunate that the residents of Aba in particular and the state in general have not seen anything good from those "ruling" them despite the fact that Kalu and Orji governments (combined) have ruled the state for almost 10 years. There is nothing to show that they were/are interested in alleviating the sufferings of the people of the state.
If one goes to East Street, the place has been in repairs for quite sometime but nothing has been done. During the rainy months, one finds it hard to go from the Ngwa Road end through the East street, straight to waterside and Ogbor Hill. From Ngwa Road by East to our Lady of Lourdes Church, will not be motorable even for an okada, when the rains return!
Ehi Road that should have eased the traffic from Ngwa and Mosque roads has been turned into dustbin and bush. There is cut off at the middle of it by what looks like a forest. The road, like magic, continues after the forest.
One of the problems with Aba is that a large number of the roads are poorly built. The roads built by the former governor of the old Imo state, the late Chief Sam Mbakwe, from where Abia is excised, are still better than the new ones built or rebuilt recently in Abia State. But even as some of those roads built by Mbakwe are developing potholes, it is only patch works that Kalu administration did on them and the same are being done on them by Theo Orji's administration. But some of the patches are wearing away while the old segments of the Mbakwe built roads remain. The people have been asking the previous and present state government to ensure that the qualities of those Mbakwe built roads are sustained in the city, but to no avail.
The Ohanku area of Aba is like a rejected and forgotten area, this is amply illustrated by the ant like trooping of people into the only access road into the area. This area of Aba, referred to the Ajegunle of Aba, houses the poorest of the community. And as the abode of the poor, the area is almost forgotten. There is about no single tarred road in the area. It is the ubiquitous okada, or the commercial motor cycles that ply into the nooks and crannies of this section. Streets, such as Bende Road have collapsed so much that nobody lives in a section of it. Houses in this street have sunk into the mud. The road is now a dump site and farm. The people have left that section of the street. But then the sight at areas around Ibere Road is most sickening. The motorcycles try to avoid the overcrowded Ohanku Road by using these feeder roads but the roads are all gone so much that only what looks like foot paths are enough for the bikes to pass through.
These Ohanku slums join Azikiwe Road, Uratta Road, Okigwe Road, Obohia Road, Faulks Road, Osusu Road and Aba-Port Harcourt Road to give the city the sobriquet, Slum City of the South East.
Uduma Kalu wrote that a commercial bike rider, Mr. Chris Mmadu, an Executive member of the town's motorcycle riders, said, "We are pleading that government should help us and repair the roads in Aba. We have very bad roads in Aba. You can see the face of our roads in Aba".
Inside the Ohanku slums where there is no government presence, a resident said "if the urban area is neglected, then the reporter could imagine the rot in the inner city. Let me say these places are like rural areas. You can see for yourself, nothing is happening here. They don't repair any road here. Not even a single one. Ohanku area has about one million people, and it is only one single road that leads into it. So, all the time, you see traffic congestion in that area".
The residents blame their problem on poor leadership and bad governance. Uduma kalu further reported some of the views of the residents of Aba. One said: There had been publicity galore that Aba roads were a haven. You have seen it by yourself. Where are the roads? They did few roads but we paid some infrastructure levy. They did not do it all with government money. Some buildings paid N20, 000. Some paid N10, 000. You can make enquiries from others. I am not lying. What I am saying is if you call me tomorrow, I will tell you the same thing".
"During the administration of Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, he did some few roads but those roads did not last. If you go to old express along Ariaria area, they repaired that road. It wasn't up to two years and the road went off. Because there was no drainage! The quality of the tar was very low. It was nothing to write home about," another resident responded.
Aba has its drainage problems. Yet, it has a central drainage system built by Mbakwe during the Ndi-Egoro Flood Disaster in the 1980s. But the residents complain of poor sanitation enforcement.
The Vanguard Newspapers wrote that an elder sitting in his shop said:
"If there is any other thing, the way I look at it, to me, it is bad governance. There is no drainage system. The sanitation system is not controlled. People throw in refuge here and there. And all the things will block the drainage. So, there is no way for water to pass. And that is the worst thing in Aba. And you see that the town is very dirty when you look at it. I don't know if there is any city in this Eastern Region that can be compared with Aba in the area of sanitation. Indeed Aba is very dirty. That is what we are witnessing. We are suffering".
The problems affecting Aba are also affecting all parts of Abia State. Theo. Orji is only good in churning out propaganda, claiming his achievements while the facts on the ground suggest otherwise. There is a road which was awarded to Worldwide Construction Company, was later reported as having been constructed and as one of the achievements of the governor while marking his one year in office even when the contractor was yet to mobilise to the site.
Guardian Newspapers of Jan. 19, 2009 wrote this:
"Theodore Orji and his propagandists claim they are changing the face of Abia State but Aba, the commercial nerve centre remains an ugly, filthy, garbage-strewn, urban rundown. They print and distribute seductive brochures depicting road projects they claim to have executed but they obviously never got the message in Peter Tosh's sharp rebuke: "you can fool some people some times but you cannot fool all the people all the time".
Thank God that before the ink could dry on their lying-brochures, the people of Ihechiowa, through the Ihechiowa People's Forum, in a statement jointly signed by Mr. Ukoha Nwabueze (co-ordinator) and Mr. Ogbonnaya Okoro (Secretary) and published in ThisDay newspaper of Thursday December 11, 2008, challenged the Abia State government to "clarify issues bordering on claims that the road from Umuchiakuma to Achara has been constructed, as contained in a government publication".
The embarrassed community had these sharp words for government propagandists: "No form of rehabilitation or construction has been done on the Achara road as claimed by the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and as contained in their publication. We call on the Abia State Government to make public the amount released to the contractor for the construction of the road. We ask the State House of Assembly to institute a probe of this great deception of our people and ensure that those found culpable are brought to book".
Abia is a failed state by whatever criteria, be it security, service delivery, resource management or infrastructural development. The likes of Akerele are free to delude themselves. Teachers, health workers and pensioners are owed salaries even as government revenue increases. Before you finish reading this piece, a minor, a nursing mother, a pensioner or someone's elderly parent would have been kidnapped in broad day light by hooded urchins patrolling the streets of Aba and Umuahia in Hilux Pick-up vans. The government is helpless, the police are hopeless and we are told this is the handiwork of the opposition.
Recently, a columnist in a national newspaper, Emeka Nwosu, wrote: "Let the truth be told. Today in Abia, hardly a day passes without one prominent citizen or the other being abducted. Most of the times these incidents go unreported because the families of the victims, having been failed by state apparatus, wouldn't want to stir the hornet's nest. They quietly retire to their homes to sulk and bemoan their fate."
Due to the failure of leadership and governance, Aba has been turned into a big slum city; the roads are now rivers, in the city are pockets of slums and refuse dumping sites everywhere. In Aba, houses sink and people abandon their homes and flee. People of Aba are hopelessly waiting for the rains to come again and turn the city into an island unto itself. Aba is just a collapsed city and Abia is a failed state. No thanks to the evil trinity of Eunice kalu, the mother; Orji Uzor kalu the son and Theo. Orji, the servant.
For more on the failure of leadership and governance, please goggle up this and watch (if you have not watched it by now):
Special thanks to the Human Right, Justice and Peace Foundation (HRJP), Vanguard Newspapers and a host of so many others that contributed towards this release.
The readers responses (feedbacks) so far, based on Part 1 of this article, will be out soon!
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