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.Uduaghan inspects drainage
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The Delta
State government is taking the bull by the horns in the fight against filth,
writes Omon-Julius Onabu in Warri
For most
residents of the oil-rich city of Warri and environs in Delta State , it was a
typical case of mixed feelings elicited by a common episode when swamp boats
and bulldozers paid rare visits to their neighbourhood recently.
While most
residents of Essi Layout/McDermott Road and parts of Jakpa Road/Post Office
area on Effurun-Sapele Road were thrilled at the prospect of a new lease of
life for their streets and neighbourhood as unwrapped by the state governor, Dr
Emmanuel Uduaghan, during on-the-spot assessment of the ongoing Warri/Effurun
renewal project, it was a tale of lamentations for others who had various
structures they considered valuable demolished as illegal structures
obstructing the city’s water channels.
The mission
of the swamp boats and bulldozers in the Warri/Effurun metropolis in recent
time has everything to do with freeing of long-blocked sewer system of the area
comprising canals, tunnels and other natural and artificial water or flood
channels that traverse the area. It also
involves the enhancement of the aesthetic standards of the metropolis, which
had long degenerated into a sorry situation.
Governor
Uduaghan personally led the inspection team during the exercise accompanied by
the Environment Commissioner, Chief Frank Omare, who has been overseeing the
demolition of illegal structures and opening up of the drainage system
especially in Warri South and Uvwie local government areas. It was a visibly
angry Uduaghan who inspected several canals and other filth-blocked flood channels
undergoing clearing with swamp boats at Iyara, Odein, Okrikpen and Okwagbe
streets in Essi Layout as well as Esisi Street/Swamp Road, Okumagba
Layout/Lower Erejuwa Cemetery/Plantation/Warri Stadium area, Warri-Sapele Road
and McDermott Road/Globestar Road.
“We will
step on toes of anybody in our desire to de-flood Warri and other parts of the
state”, Governor Uduaghan said of the administration’s urban renewal scheme
under which Warri metropolis is currently receiving a facelift. “We must get it
right this time around hence we are ready to step on toes of anybody
obstructing the free flow of water in our cities and towns. If you have built
on natural water channels, we will come after you and pull down your structure.
“I have
directed the State Commissioner for Environment – who is going around with me
in monitoring the sanitation exercise – to bring down all structures blocking
easy flow of water and nobody can intimidate us. I am happy with the way the
environment commissioner is going about the directive I gave him. Whatever that
we are doing is for the good of our people and there is no stopping us or going
back.”
Addressing
the residents of Otirikpen Street off Odion Street in the McDermott Road/Essi
Layout area of Warri, Governor Uduaghan noted, “Most of the flooding that we
have in this environment is man-made. People just open their eyes and build
structures on natural water ways. Others dump their refuse on the streets and
right into the drainage. Of course water will always find a way to go through
and that is what has been happening. And, it has no way to pass; that is why
the whole place is getting flooded.
“The whole
of this area used to be flooded up to the knee and at times hip level before
this place was opened up recently by the Ministry of Environment. But with the
opening of the place you now find out that water is now flowing freely toward
the channels. I am very happy that we have been able to achieve this. It is a
very big achievement because for those of you who live in Warri you know the
kind of havoc that flood has been causing, but now the residents who have been
feeling the pinch are quite happy.”
Uduaghan
also had a word of rebuked for certain unscrupulous government officials. “Both
the person that approved such building and the person who built in such a place
are criminals and I am going to trace all involved and bring them to book. The
fact that you got an approval illegally does not mean that you are right, even
if it happens to be somebody in the government. I am not going to pay
compensation to anybody. Would you built a house on top of the river and you
are asking for compensation? I am not going to pay any compensation.”
Facelift for
Warri
The governor
however had cheering news for the inhabitants of Essi Layout who gathered at
the Otirikpen Street-Okwagbe Street junction off Odien Street during a recent
on-the-spot assessment of rehabilitation work in the area. As soon as the
opening up of the flood channels and clearing of illegal structures were
completed the state government would commence the asphalting of Otirikpen and
Okwagbe, which are obviously the grubbiest in the neighbourhood, he announced
using the popular Pidgin English.
“I will tell
you what we are going to do; we are going to tar the roads and put an embankment
on both sides of the road from the beginning to the end. And, of course if
there is an embankment the silting or mud deposit is very much reduced. It is
just to ensure that the water flows freely whenever it rains and the flood
channel is cleared regularly.”
The people,
who admitted that they had for years suffered untold hardship and losses due to
the flooding of their streets and houses, went wild in jubilation, but Uduaghan
was not done yet. “The message to Delta people is simple; that once we see any
building that is illegal we will destroy it no matter who the owner is.
Even if the
person is me, even if the owner of the structure happens to be the Governor, I
will order them to destroy it. No matter how close you are to me, you must read
the writing on the wall, because it is not about me; it is about the people.
This exercise is going to continue as long as this government is in place.
Please, let us change our dirty habits”, Uduaghan appealed while speaking with
residents at Essi Layout. “Why should we be adorned in beautiful clothes
whereas our surroundings are dirty and we shamelessly dump our refuse or waste
materials in the streets and gutters?”
A community
leader in the area, Mr. Johnson Uhrorho commended the State Government for the
enormous work so far done in the area, saying it has helped greatly to check
the flooding. “We are grateful to your government for opening up the blocked
canal; we have been suffering over the years. On behalf of the people of this
area I want to thank you for coming to our aid”, he said.
Although,
the inhabitants of Jakpa Road/Okoloba area rivulet, like the Essi Layout
residents, were delighted as Uduaghan unfolded to them plans by the state
government to open the floodways to save their houses and property from the
massive floods, the governor did not mince words in condemning the
conspicuously “dirty surroundings and poor sanitation habits in many parts of
Warri and Effurun.
The state
commissioner for environment, Omare stressed the government’s firm stance on
the issue of illegal structures particularly on water or flood channels not
only in Warri/Effurun metropolis by in Asaba, Ughelli, Sapele and major urban
areas across the state. He disclosed this while inspecting the clearing of
drainage canals and other flood channels in Warri. The opening up of the
drainages formed the first phase of the urban renewal programme of the state
while the demolition of illegal structures and reconstruction of roads/drainage
system and general aesthetic upgrade would form the second and third phases.
“No
compensation would be paid to anybody who built on natural waterways, canals
and other flood channels because these structures are illegal and they were
erected without due approval from relevant authorities” Omare stated. “In
short, all these structures built on and over various flood channels are
illegal; and, you do not expect to be compensated for engaging in illegality
and creating such environmental and health nuisance.”
The state
government has apparently attempted to match words with action concerning the
concerted efforts to strip Warri metropolis and adjoining areas of its garments
of filth and residential decay. Aside from the seeming blanket application of
the directive on demolition of illegal structures in the city, the government
also clamped down on public environmental sanitation offenders. During one of
the last monthly environmental sanitation exercises, 55 persons who allegedly
ran foul of the law were arrested and arraigned before exclusive mobile courts.
It would
appear the administration is not prepared to relent on the clearly boldest
attempt by any government, probably in decades, to purge Warri/Effurun of its
disgusting urban blithe and give it a modern touch of aesthetics it generally
is believed to deserve. The establishment of Warri Refining and Petrochemical
Company (WRPC) in the late 1970s as well as another subsidiary of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and several
oil and gas related companies I the area simply thrust upon Warri the status of
‘Oil-City’.
The
development, coupled with the gradual decline of lumbering and maritime
activities in Sapele, which once was the most commercialized and industrial
centre, inadvertently made Warri the industrial and commercial nerve-centre of
Delta State created in 1991. The existence of Warri Port under the management
of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) equally enhanced this new status.
The
importance of Warri today, even with the relatively reduced oil and gas as well
as maritime activities, cannot be over-emphasised. The Warri/Effurun metropolis
includes Warri and Effurun that serve as the administrative headquarters of
Warri South and Uvwie local government areas, respectively. The area also
serves as gateway to Bayelsa and Rivers states via the Effurun Roundabout on
the strategic national East-West Coastal Road , linking Benin-City in Edo State
and Port-Harcourt in Rivers State .
The Warri
area is also of local and national security importance owing mainly to the
coastal location and existence of oil and gas installations. The proposed Warri
Industrial Park and several other immediate and long-term projects of the
Uduaghan administration vis-à-vis other private current and proposed
initiatives make Warri axis an important development nexus.
Against this
backdrop, the ongoing efforts of the Uduaghan administration to rescue Warri
metropolis from nauseating squalour must be appreciated. The physical
development challenges posed by the ecological peculiarity of the area as a
typical swampy terrain as well as the haphazard housing and other land use
modes as well as misconceptions and suspicions must be overcome in favour of
the Warri urban renewal. Needless to say, the present poor attitude to
sanitation and public health as epitomized by generally uninspiring waste
disposal around markets in Warri and Uvwie local government areas that
constitute the metropolis under focus must be done away with.
This is no
doubt an onerous task that the state government must summon much courage to
accomplish, especially in the light of numerous competing demands on available
financial resources currently. However, the prospects appear quite bright for
an environmentally beautiful and healthy oil-city of Warri, if the local
authorities and residents cooperate and collaborate with the state government
in this regard.
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