Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Inside Abia: Nigeria’s dirtiest state -BY HENRY UMAHI


Abia Portharcourt Rd
■ Epidemic looms, residents lament

On Wednesday penultimate week, Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, witnessed its first rain in 2015. Although the rain was not heavy, it left a heavy burden on the residents, as the en­tire city was flooded.
The situation was such that moving from one part of the city to another was a diffi­cult task. People were compelled to remove their shoes and fold their trousers to wade through the flood even as vehicles were trapped in the craters dotting the roads. Many of the residential buildings and busi­ness premises were not spared as the flood ravaged personal effects and commercial goods. In some cases, people fell into gut­ters and sustained injuries. Those who were coming into the town that day had a hectic time as Osisioma area and parts of Aba – Owerri road were flooded, particularly the Abia Poly gate and St Paul’s junction. This resulted in a traffic snarl that forced people to trek long distances. In fact, Aba was liter­ally floating that day.
A resident, Mrs Agnes Ajumbe, told our correspondent that her daughter broke her leg when she fell into a submerged gully on Jubilee road while returning from her business place that day. Her words: “When my daughter was returning after the rain on Wednesday (last week), she removed her shoes as everywhere was flooded. Unfor­tunately, she fell into a big hole on Jubilee road because it was covered with flood wa­ter and she didn’t know that the hole was there. As she fell, her handbag containing recharge cards and a sack containing bot­tles of groundnuts that we sell fell into the flood. Everything was damaged. The bottles of groundnuts broke and she broke her left leg. I am a widow and our source of liveli­hood is gone. I don’t even have money to give her proper treatment, so I took her to a native bonesetter. The affected leg is swol­len and the pain is unbearable for her. She is always crying, particularly in the night. I am confused.”
Another resident, Mr Simeon Ofoma told our correspondent that his Carmry car broke down inside a gully on Eziukwu road. “I didn’t know that the hole on the road was so big because the entire place was flood­ed. The bottom plate and exhaust pipe were affected. I bought the car in November last year and I spent a huge amount to fix it. We are really suffering in this state. When I was travelling to my home town, Arochuk­wu, last year for the Christmas festivities, the car also broke down because of the bad roads. Living in Abia is like living in hell,” he lamented.
Investigations revealed that in the last couple of years, Aba, the economic livewire of Abia State has deteriorated in every ma­terial particular. If nothing is done and fast too, Aba residents will experience more hardship this rainy season.
Most of the roads are in a deplorable state and impassable when it rains even slightly. If you go to a place like Obohia, for in­stance, your heart will melt at the level of decay and suffering residents of the area are going through. Ama Mmong, a densely populated suburb, is a patch of hell. Going there could be likened to a journey to Gol­gotha. It is a difficult task accessing there from any point. To go there, you must arm yourself with sachets of water with which to wash your legs because you will get to por­tions where vehicles cannot navigate and you will be compelled to wade through dirty smelly water. Residents disclosed that the ugly state of the road had made commercial bus drivers to increase the fare. Milverton Avenue, which is the loading bay of luxury bus operators, has broken into two. Driving through that axis is a risk many motorists are not willing to take because any vehicle that goes through it will hardly be the same again. Umu Ule road, Port Harcourt road, MCC roads, Port Harcourt road, Hospital road and Umuocham road are some of the major arteries where commuters gnash their teeth in agony.
Interestingly, you can hardly find the cam­paign posters of the ruling party in Obohia. This is because residents of the area do not want to hear anything about the ruling par­ty there. “We don’t want to see any of their nonsense posters here. In fact, they cannot come to campaign here because we are not happy with them and the youths of the area may give more than they bargained for,” Innocent, a tricycle rider, told the reporter.
Apart from the broken roads, the gut­ters are filled with dirt. It is the same sto­ry in virtually every part of the town. Also, mountains of refuse dot the town. One of the new ‘mountains’ is on Ochefu Street by Market road. Getting there, you are left wondering how human beings live in such environment right in the city centre. And the garbage bins, where they exist, spill on the road before being evacuated. The result is a stinking city.
Dirt is not peculiar to Aba. Going to Umuahia, the state capital, you easily notice why Abia could be regarded as the dirtiest state in the country. At Umuikaa junction, along the Aba – Enugu expressway, dirt is strewn all over the place. A massive refuse dump site emitting acrid odour and billow­ing smoke welcome you to the capital city. The ‘perfume’ stings in the nose. And in the middle of the expressway, shortly after Abia Tower in Umuahia, are unsightly heaps of garbage. And if you are going to Akwa Ibom from Abia, nobody will tell you the boundary of the two states because immedi­ately you cross into Akwa Ibom everything changes for the better. And if you are go­ing to Imo State, the environment becomes cleaner when you cross the border town of Owerrinta.
Indeed, epidemic looms in Abia because the residents have been exposed to dirt and offensive odour for years. The gutters have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and rodents. Interestingly, the residents and business owners are compelled to pay sanitation levies yet dirt and rotten wastes litter everywhere. Worse still, the people have been conquered. Hence, many see no evil and speak no evil. It was learnt that fol­lowing a report on the decrepit state of Aba markets not long ago, some of their leaders were arrested and detained on the suspicion that they gave information to the reporter.

Culled from The sun

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