This is certainly not the best of times for over 15 communities of\u00a0 Egbema\u00a0 and Oguta\u00a0\u00a0 in Imo State of Nigeria ,many of whom have\u00a0 been forced to flee their homes in the last four weeks due to flood and are now taking temporary shelter at tents. The flood though is going down but the degree of harm caused the people\u00a0 of Egbema and Oguta\u00a0 by this flood is better imagined than seen. Opuoma, Obiakpu, Mmahu and Abacheke communities of Egbema have very sad stories to tell about the flood. All the riverine arreas of Oguta , including Orsu, Nnebukwu, Orsu Obodo, Ezi Orsu got caught up by\u00a0 the flood.The country home of former speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Goodluck Nanah Opiah in Abacheke-Egbema\u00a0 was\u00a0 overrun by\u00a0 the flood.<\/p>\n
This flood disaster shows clearly the lack of planning of the country by present and past leaders. Houses, dams , roads, drainages, and other amenities are not planned to meet the needs of the people. The dearth of social and holistic planning as a result of long time implementation of neo-liberal policies have increased the level of poverty in Nigeria drastically and have pushed Nigerians to self help.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0 flood submerged farmlands, schools, churches, houses, fish ponds and\u00a0 properties in Egbema and Oguta .It\u00a0\u00a0 is the worst in recent history. A monumental disaster indeed. I wish to commiserates with the families that lost homes,properties and farms in Egbema and Oguta to the flood.My heart also goes to other victims of flood in other parts of Nigeria.I wish them well. Many eyes of\u00a0 the\u00a0 flood victims in my place(Egbema) betrayed layers of unspoken fears and uncertainty. Many do not even know where to start from again when they will return to their abandoned homes. The very poor ones whose homes were mud houses were currently at a loss and were\u00a0 not sure where to go after the flood until government and powerful individuals stepped\u00a0 in to\u00a0 ameliorate the plight of victims of flood in the State.<\/p>\n
Political leaders of Imo state kept party differences aside as they rushed to Egbema and Oguta to sympathise with the flood victims.\u00a0 Ex\u00a0 Governor Ikedi Ohakim, Former Imo House Speaker Chief Goodluck Opiah,\u00a0 Prof Viola Onwuliri, Chief Gerald Irona, Senator Hope Uzodimma , Reps\u00a0 Deputy Speaker\u00a0 Chief Emeka Ihediora ,Chief\u00a0 Osita Izunaso, Senator Chris Anyanwu, Nollywood Artistes, Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme, Vice President Namadi Sambo\u00a0 have shown that they feel the sufferings of\u00a0 the people\u00a0 as they paid a visit to them\u00a0 and provided relief materials. For this, i say many thanks. The response of the state government under Governor\u00a0 Rochas\u00a0 Okorocha\u00a0 is also impressive. Governor Okorocha\u00a0 who is a guru in\u00a0 touching lives of the less privileged positively left no area untouched, to this end; he visited and distributed some relief materials to the flood victims. Kudos, to him.<\/p>\n
Governor Okorocha\u00a0 came\u00a0 to Egbema with\u00a0 members of the state executive and other top shots. He also organized a fund raising for the flood victims\u00a0 in which 50 million naira was raised for the victims. He pointed out that the state government in partnership with the Federal Government would bring spray machines to fumigate areas affected by the flood. Owelle made one touching statement “I want to just let you know that your governor is working overtime to make sure that as soon as possible everybody can get back to normal” What a reassuring speech. The victims\u00a0\u00a0 need this encouragement; they need somebody to tell them that there is a future for them; they need somebody to help them plan their future.The Governor also said\u2018\u2019 Are you upset my people? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don’t worry, we are here and we will always be here to take care of you. \u201d
\nin\u00a0 an\u00a0 SP poll\u00a0 i\u00a0 conducted\u00a0 recently in my blog , 88 percent rate Okorocha\u2019s response to the flood victims as excellent\u00a0 while just 12 percent see it negatively. To me, Governor Okorocha\u2019s flood response to\u00a0\u00a0 my people\u00a0 is outstanding. Okorocha\u00a0\u00a0 did a good thing for the people of the area\u00a0\u00a0 with his lorry loads of food\u00a0 for\u00a0 the\u00a0 victims\u00a0 and he deserves commendation. It will be a mistake to give traders of specious rumours cause to become giddy over the governor\u2019s time frame in reaching out with relief materials to the flood victims. Let\u2019s be clear from the outset and stop playing politics with everything. Owelle is\u00a0 not perfect, and I do not agree with some of his choices but when he does well we should\u00a0 shun unnecessary politics and\u00a0 praise him so he can do more. May God touch\u00a0 his heart to do more for\u00a0 my people.<\/p>\n
Efforts should be made to stop diversion of the relief materials meant for the flood victims. We are made to understand that some persons are feeding fat from this flood situation by diverting the relief items to unknown places. This is unfair and government should handle the situation well. Unless the distribution of relief materials is done with a human face, it is bound to cause further hardship for the mass of already impoverished flood victims, instead of bringing comfort. The materials should truly get to the victims for such persons to be able to move on with their lives since they are humans and not\u00a0 mere farm animals. Anything short of this will amount to victimizing the poor and helpless. The people of the State are watching to see how the challenge of this disaster is tackled. We cannot afford to disappoint them. Efforts should also be made to construct standard drainages in Imo state river areas that would absorb the overspill from the river channels, local rainfall and run-off, and tides, which are the causes of flood. With the climatic change, the flood will come back in 2013. We have to be prepared; the floods whether we\u00a0 like it or not will come again. Next year\u2019s floods could be worse than this.Something has to be done to safeguard Imo from future flood.<\/p>\n
I must confess that the recent policies of\u00a0 Owelle are encouraging. There is\u00a0 rebranding in his policies and decisions. It was\u00a0 Prof Dora Akunyili, the former Nigerian Information Minister who\u00a0 on assumption of office initiated the move to rebrand Nigeria . According to her the process of rebranding is a quest for a new national identity, which hitherto had been marred by the overall poor image. By so doing the major goal was to have the government ultimately chart a new course for its \u201cnew\u201d people. Okorocha\u00a0 to me strive to change the perception of\u00a0 Imo political terrain and by so doing is\u00a0 rebranding his style of governance in Imo State. The people are watching. Once again, well done our governor, mboola.<\/p>\n
Kenneth Uwadi, Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State, Nigeria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is certainly not the best of times for over 15 communities of\u00a0 Egbema\u00a0 and Oguta\u00a0\u00a0 in Imo State of Nigeria ,many of whom have\u00a0 been forced to flee their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n