Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
A few years ago, Oduke Layout in Obosi, Anambra State, was a good place to live in. It was a haven of peace and tranquility, and residents were happy.
Located along Ezeiweka Road, Obosi, near Upper Iweka, Onitsha, it was conducive for traders in Ogbaru Relief Market, Onitsha Electromart and Bridge Head Market, among others. While some landlords built personal residences there, some erected four-storey buildings containing mainly three-bedroom apartments for tenants.
Within a short period, the place boomed with a large number of residents, attracting schools, eateries and lock-up stores serving the various needs of the residents. An Obosi indigene scanned the environment, moved in and started the construction of a magnificent hotel with an event centre and underground tunnel for recreation in the area.
How the cookie crumbled
Life was good at Oduke and the people had expectations of a better future until a man-made disaster erupted in the area six years ago and their story changed for the worse.
It was gathered that, in 2013, when Ezeiweka Road was constructed, an error was made. Instead of connecting the drainage channel through a big water collector that passed from Ibollo Layout to Onitsha-Owerri road, it was stopped midway, thereby turning Oduke Layout to a river whenever it rained.
Indeed, the rainy season has become a nightmare for residents. The situation at Oduke Layout is so pathetic that while others rejoice when it rains, it is the other way for them, as rain brings pain and misery. The popular saying ‘after the rain comes sunshine’ does not apply to them. Instead, it is ‘after rain comes terrible floods.’
It takes not less than five hours after rainfall for the usual flood to recede in Oduke, and when the downpour is heavy, it might take up to five days before residents can venture out of their homes, use their vehicles or allow their children to go to school.
It was learnt that no fewer than 5,000 residents of the area are trapped, several buildings submerged, with property worth billions of naira destroyed by the construction error.
Cry for help
The people have been crying out for government attention and solution. They have written several letters, embarked on advocacy visits and peaceful demonstrations, without positive result.
Daily Sun’s reporter, who had followed their predicament over the years, gathered that the design for the reconstruction of the channel was done during the administration of former governor Peter Obi but it could not be executed before his tenure expired.
So, when Governor Willie Obiano came into office, the people followed it up and the then Commissioner for Works in the state, Law Chinwuba, visited the area and assured them that their problem would be addressed.
During the last governorship election in the state, the situation became a campaign issue, as opposition candidates promised to turn the area to paradise, if voted into power.
But the people, after due consultations, decided to pitch their tent with the incumbent. And as if to show appreciation for their loyalty, the Obiano administration awarded the contract for the reclamation of the flooded area to a construction company that moved its equipment immediately to the site a few weeks before the November 18, 2017, election.
The firm started sand-filling the area. Though residents expressed reservations about their mode of operation, since they expected the company to start with construction of gutters, they remained hopeful that, anyhow, their saviour had come.
Even some tenants who had earlier packed out of the layout started returning. But their joy was short-lived. Soon after sand-filling some portions of the flooded area, the company packed its equipment and left. Sources told Daily Sun that the management of the company told them point-blank that they had to leave because government failed to fulfill its part of the agreement. In other words, government did not fulfill its financial obligation to them.
Lamentations
Messrs Christian Madubeze, Sylvester Uzor and the president-general of the community, Nicholas Okechukwu, who spoke in tears when the reporter visited the area last week, sent a distress call to the state government to take up their case as an emergency.
“We are like internally displaced people right now. Over 5,000 people living here are trapped. No entry and exit route for us. Buildings have been submerged. Schools destroyed with little children dying in the past from the flooding. This is an emergency case and our situation requires immediate attention or we may perish,” they lamented.
An elder in the community, Bro Emmanuel Ezidiegwu, described Oduke as a small community with big problems. He said the people living there were on the verge of total elimination.
Ezidiegwu said Obiano hearkened to their cry by awarding the contract for the construction and reclamation of the area but today things have fallen apart. He alleged the contractor worsened the situation, instead of providing remedy.
“Our governor is a good man but I don’t know whether to say that it is the contractors that are sabotaging his efforts. When the contract was awarded in 2017, we heaved sighs of relief. The contractor came and did what he did, leaving us in this mess. We are now worse off than the situation before the construction. He has created more avenues for erosion and gullies about to swallow all of us. He has created access for flood coming as far as Nkpor, Ogidi and Umuoji to swallow us here.
“We are now a collecting centre for floods from other communities. A dumping ground, so to say, but this place used to be an access road to people crossing over to Onitsha-Owerri road without passing through the gridlock at Upper Iweka,” he said.
President-general of the community, Nicholas Okechukwu, recalled the loss of two people in the community whose lives were cut short in the flooding. He said their situation had adverse economic effects for residents and government.
He said: “The governor should order the contractor back to site so that he can finish what he started. The flood and erosion has created a very big gulf. It is impacting seriously on the economy of not only Oduke Layout but the entire state. This place is also a revenue base for the government. The high-rise buildings are supposed to pay tax to government; schools and eateries that have all closed down adversely affects the income generation of the state.”
Another landlord, Chief Sylvester Uzor, expressed dismay on the way the project was handled. He said the community was disillusioned that their hopes were raised and dashed, because they were happy when the contractor moved in equipment but today there is no single equipment there, while the work has been abandoned.
Bro Chekwube Nwankwo said children resident in the area are already psychologically affected by the devastation in the area because most times they can’t join their mates in school as there are no access roads, while they also live with the apprehension that they may be swallowed in their homes any time it rained heavily.
Several correspondences, no respite
Oduke Landlords’ Association, while buttressing their claims of several efforts in the past to draw government attention to their plight, presented several letters sent to the state government over the years.
In one of the letters, dated November 16, 2018, addressed to Obiano, with an acknowledgement of receipt from the Governor’s Registry dated November 17, 2018, the people sent a passionate appeal for intervention on the deadly deluge and denudation ravaging the area.
“We write to make a passionate appeal to Your Excellency to intervene in the deplorable state of affairs in the Igwe Nwakobi Road, Oduke Layout, Obosi. The facts sustaining this appeal is that the Oduke Layout Landlords Association and residents in our communal self-help development spirit and effort constructed gutters so as to alleviate the perennial and devastating flooding in the layout before the project was awarded by your government.
“However, when the road project was awarded to the company and the aforesaid company in carrying out their contract mandate distorted and disfigured the drainage system already in place with a consequential denudation of the topography, geo-physical structure cum geological and geographical physiognomy of the road thereby rendering same susceptible and prone to deadly deluge and as a death trap. This flooding has claimed so many lives and destroyed properties worth billions of naira.
“Regrettably, on Saturday, November 3, 2018, a female banker, Oluchi Nwafor, and one Solomon Okafor from Nnewi, all resident of Oduke Layout, lost their lives in the rampaging flood in the area in focus and all our national dailies were awash with this mournful news.
“We had earlier written severally to your exalted and esteemed office and person on this issue under discourse without success and we shall, however, refer to our letters on this issue dated 23rd day of June, 2015, 1st day of December, 2016 and 09/02/2018, among others. We implore you to use your good offices and bail us out of this calamitous vicissitude with the emergency and urgency it deserves” the petition said.
The situation now
At the time of filing this report, residents were apprehensive as the rains approached. Igwe Nwakobi Road, which leads to the layout, has been waterlogged and remains impassable even when the rains are yet to come. Residents have been packing out, leaving many houses empty and landlords count their losses. The magnificent hotel in the area has been abandoned, with rodents having a field day. The security post occupied by the local vigilance group in the area has been swallowed too, while residents have been carrying placards calling on government to save them before the rains come this year.
Any hope on the horizon?
When contacted on telephone, the Commissioner for Works, Marcel Ifejiofor, said he could not talk much on phone, stating, however, there was hope for the people of the area.
He said the contractor would be mobilized back to site soon so that work can continue on the project.
Despite Ifejiofor’s assurance, Oduke residents say government doesn’t realise that their situation deserves emergency attention and urgent action.
“If this place is not taken care of in the next one month before the rains come again, then another disaster that will consume lives is already waiting to happen. It is a save-our-souls situation,” they cried.