Date Published: 09/08/09
IMO: A VOTE FOR NWORIE RIVER.
By E.N. Nwanjemanze
In the last couple of months especially during the period of heated struggle to capture the seat of Governor of Imo State, one project that has continued to attract commentaries from within and outside the state is the award of contract to dredge the popular Nworie , a river crisscrossing the Owerri metropolis. Now for those who are not familiar with the river in question the Nworie river from available information took its flow from another river located at the end of Mbaitolu to the west of Owerri flowing its way through the entire Owerri metropolis and finally emptying into Otamiri river. In the past, the Nworie river had provided a good source of drinking water to the residents of Owerri including students of popular Government College and its neighbours at the Holy Ghost College. Aside drinking water, several residents had the pleasure of enjoying their weekend at several beach points of the river while merchants made a fortune out of excavating sands from the river. Besides the Nworie collected in its belle rain drops in the city, such that at the end of every rain, it would be difficult to know it rained in Owerri town. One can therefore imagine the pains of Owerri indigenes each time they see the sorry state of their once flowing treasure now gone awry no thanks to population explosion as well as industries that had to be established in Owerri. But the worrisome aspect of the River is that it has become a haven for ritual use, as i write over fifty decomposing bodies have been sighted since the contractor mobilized to site that not all, water from the river now spill into the streets of Owerri metropolis with the fear of epidemic and flooding looming large. Besides, the neglect of the river has in no small measure caused erosion problems in and around Nekede, while the three bridges connecting Nworie River has continued to compound matters. Noting the dangers that the neglect that Nworie river may cause if not checked, a pressure group; OWERRI NCHI ISE Elites had as far back as 1983 sent as SOS to the then Governor of Imo State, Chief Sam Mbakwe requesting Government’s intervention but the coup of 1984 which swept off the Mbakwe administration did not allow the project to get off the ground. Successive military governments did not help matters as they preferred to ignore the project citing cost yes it was until the emergence of the Achike Udenwa administration in 1999, that the disturbing state of Nworie river caught government attention again, but the attention remained at the level of consultancy as Udenwa again gave the excuse of lack of funds before he quit office in 2007 but Nworie got no better. The leaders and people of Owerri had therefore prayed to have a man on the seat of Governor who will take up the project, a prayer that was answered months after Chief Ikedi Ohakim took power in 2007 .Observers say the present attention given the project by the Ikedi Ohakim administration was not planned as while driving back to Owerri in one of his local government outings he had noted that the city was unnecessarily flooded, before this time there has been complaints by students of Alvan Ikoku College of Education sighting washed up bodies around their hostels, besides the water hyacinth which has become part of river is not a good sight to behold this is aside the river fastly becoming the latest dump site in Owerri. What to do, the Governor Chief Ohakim was said to have re-introduced the matter at the executive council meeting but the issue of money reared its head again but the man was more than determined to see to the execution of the project and was said to have approached several Federal Government agencies and had like the weeping Sam Mbakwe of blessed memory continually sought Federal Government assistance. But before the Federal Government assistance came, Ohakim had approached a frontline NDDC Contractor from the state to kick start the project while he opened up further negotiations with these federal agencies notably the NDDC. The contractor though did not like the idea of work before pay, the Governor was said to have sent several top indigenes of the state to persuade the contractor to mobilize to site but rather than applaud the magnanimity of the Governor and the contractor in this direction, critics of the Government brazenly dismissed the entire project claiming it is one of those conduit pipe to drain scarce government resources and that government should set their priorities right in that the dredging of Nworie is the least of the peoples problem. They did not end there, they charged that the dredging will lead to an overflow of river and further questioned the profile of the contracting firm an Engineering Company that is not only one of the best indigenous Civil Engineering firm in Nigeria but have reference as far as dredging shoreline engineering is concerned, besides the contracting firm in question is known to have handled projects for Federal Ministry of Environment, Shell, the NDDC, and even have an ongoing project in Sao Tome/Principe .Now few months after the award of the contract, it is amazing looking at the level of work done which if calculated is over fifty percent. For instance the gully site at Nekede front has been taken care of, the FMC danger point and FUASON point has all been done neatly while several women and youth groups in Owerri have continued to make their daily bread from the contract and to salute the contractor, several communities on the shoreline has offered the company free security services, a development that is alien in some Niger Delta communities. Several observers are now of the opinion that aside the advantages stated above, the Nworie river if fully dredged will reclaim the lost beach site which in turn will boost tourism while also opening up water front site for property developers and the noveau riche who may want to build mansions thus bringing revenue both to the people and Government, now talk of a Governor with eyes on the future.
Disturbingly and looking at the above gains of the Nworie river project, analysts were taken aback recently when a prominent citizen of the state, Dr Alex Obi attempted to discredit the project with his tissues of lies in a recent widely serialized interview and we ask, must our politicians continue to play politics over projects that stands to benefit the larger segment of the people including critics. We ask again, who needs a flooded city, who needs an erosion ravaged city and who needs an abandoned river that provides hideouts for criminals and ritualists, definitely, not Imo people who are environment friendly nor a government that takes the issue of environment seriously. Our take here is let the Nworie river be given a breather so that it will be completed in record time. We need not throw away the baby with the bath water just because we want to get at a perceived enemy, that is retrogressive politics which ordinarily has no place in any modern society.
E.N. Nwanjemanze, lives in Nekede, Owerri Imo State
