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By Dickson Okafor
The people of Nzerem/Ikpem community in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo are threatening to boycott all future elections in the country if major roads in the area are not fixed by the state government before 2023.
The decision was contained in communiqué issued after a stakeholders meeting held in Lagos recently. The group under the aegis of Nzerem/Ikpem Consultative Forum (NICF), a political pressure group comprising technocrats, market unions, age grades and youths organizations in the area, resolved to shun their civic duties in protest against government negligence of the area.
The National Chairman of NICF, Nze Godwin Ikechukwu Okafor, while throwing more light on what he described as infrastructural deficit in the area, lamented the deplorable condition of roads in Nzerem/Ikpem which he said has inflicted untold hardship on the people of the area.
He reechoed the people’s resolve not only to boycott future elections, but to also shun their civic duties unless they are treated as part and parcel of Nigeria and Imo State by the officials of all tiers of government through infrastructural development of the area.
He called on both the state and federal governments to do the needful by shifting their attention to Nzerem/Ikpem before 2023 when they will come to ask for votes in the area. He also attributed food shortage being witnessed in the state and other southeastern states to the inability of inhabitants of the community who are predominantly farmers to transport their farm produce to Oriagu, the nearest market, due to the poor condition of major roads linking Nzerem/Ikpem with other communities in the council area.
He blamed it on both state and federal governments for their conspiracy to deliberately abandon the community since the creation of Imo State in 1975.
Okafor opined that 60 per cent of agricultural produce in Imo State are from Nzeren/Ikpem but regretted the level of neglect in the area by past and present administrations in the state, which he said led to untimely death of many of the people especially pregnant women and the aged who could not access health facility due to poor state of the roads.
He recalled how the immediate past senator that represented Imo North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, late Sen. Benjamin Uwajumogu, tried to attract Federal Government’s attention to Nzerem/Ikpem by establishing a farm settlement in Dioka, but wondered why his successor could not continue with this laudable vision of his predecessor since he assumed office.
He accused the senator of reneging on his campaign promises to the people of Nzerem/Ikpem who voted massively for him and the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the last Imo North Senatorial rerun election.
He said he could not explain why the senator have not been able to at least visit Nzerem after assuming office for on the spot assessment of the pain the people are going through daily because of poor infrastructure.
He expressed surprise that all the roads in Nzerem/Ikpem has been satisfied constructed and commission on the pages of newspapers. He recalled how he read on the newspapers that all the roads in Nzerem/Ikpem that were awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) since its inception have been executed.
He said: “I’m shocked to read in the newspapers and in the NDDC reports that all roads project they awarded in Nzerem/Ikpem have been completed and commissioned, but I asked, which of the roads?”
Okafor, who is also President, Okigwe Professionals Vanguard (OPV), frowned at the unwarranted hardship his people are been subjected to due to neglect of the area by the three tiers of governments hence the reason they have risen to take their destiny in their hands.
He accused both their appointed and elected representatives of failure to fulfill their campaign promises to them as well attract attention of both state and federal governments to the plight of his people.
He, therefore, vowed to mobilize the people in the area to boycott future elections beginning with the 2023 general election, if government at all levels did not push for the commencement of construction of major roads awarded by NDDC and the state government in Nzerem/Ikpem on or before 2023.
The listed include, Umuaguma/Umudimokoro/Afor Nzerem, Umuosu/Afor Nzerem/, Isieke/ Umueleawo and umuezeala/Afor Nzerem, all in Umuoma Nzerem. Others are Dioka/Obollo/Ikwe and Dioka/Afor Nzerem. All in Dioka Nzerem. Dioka/ Ikpem and Ikpem/Umukabia/ Umunna Okigwe roads. All are in Ikpem.
The chairman, Umuoma Nzerem Progressive Union (UNPU), Lagos branch, Comrade Calistus Osuji, ºconcurred with Okafor. According to him, Nzerem/Ikpem from where the state derives 60 per cent of its agricultural produce and food to feed its people cannot continue to be neglected with no basic amenities such potable water, health centre, electricity, while primary and secondary schools in the area are dilapidated.
He said: “Our pregnant women trek hundreds of miles to access health facility to give birth because the roads are not motorable and motor cycles find it difficult to ply the roads, yet we read on the pages of newspapers that construction of roads in Nzerem/Ikpem has been completed and commissioned.”
He said since the government does not care about their wellbeing, there is no need for them to continue to exercise their civic duties hence their resolve to boycott all future elections.
Chief Linus Onyenanu, patron, UNPU, said because of the community’s economic importance to Imo State and Federal Government, Nzerem ought to be pampered and not neglected. He said considering the value the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari attach to agriculture which is the main occupation of the people of Nzerem/Ikpem, the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, cannot continue to marginalize Ndi Nzerem/Ikpem.
He said “We earn a living through agriculture and we also feed the state. Therefore, Nzerem/Ikpem must be given proper attention in terms of infrastructural development.”
He said Nzerem/Ikpem with its agricultural and economic potentials should be centre of attraction to the state government in order to actualize these potentials and enhance food sufficiency. This, he said, can be achieved through improvement of road network in the community which has remained a source of discouragement to farmers in Nzerem/Ikpem.
He highlighted some of the benefits the state government stands to derive from constructing roads in the community.
On his part, Chief Hipolite Esiagu, former chairman of UNPU, Lagos branch, recounted the daily ordeal faced by the people, especially farmers to earn a living. He decried the pain peasant farmers go through while trying to access nearby markets to sale their produce.
He insisted that the worse hit is education as schools in Nzerem/Ikpem are in shamble because most pupils and students could not access their schools because erosion has cut off their villages from where their schools are situated. A situation he described as threat to the future generation of the community
He said: “The Federal Government’s quest to diversify the economy from oil to agriculture and provision of basic education to Nigerian youths won’t yield the desired result if farmers in Nzerem/Ikpem cannot sell their farm produce and be able to use the proceed to train their children because of poor condition of roads. We are in big trouble; we need help.”
