A flood Ravaged Ohaji/ Egbema and Oguta Local Government Areas
This is certainly not the best of
times for over 15 communities of
Egbema and Oguta in Imo State of Nigeria ,many of whom have 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 of Egbema and Oguta 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
the flood.The country home of former speaker of Imo State House of
Assembly, Chief Goodluck Nanah Opiah in Abacheke-Egbema was
overrun by the flood.
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.
The
flood submerged farmlands, schools, churches, houses, fish ponds
and properties in Egbema and Oguta .It 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 the
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 not
sure where to go after the flood until government and powerful individuals
stepped in to ameliorate the plight of victims of flood in
the State.
Political leaders of Imo state kept party
differences aside as they rushed to Egbema and Oguta to sympathise with the
flood victims. Ex Governor Ikedi Ohakim, Former Imo House
Speaker Chief Goodluck Opiah, Prof Viola
Onwuliri, Chief Gerald Irona, Senator Hope Uzodimma , Reps Deputy Speaker Chief Emeka Ihediora ,Chief Osita Izunaso, Senator Chris Anyanwu,
Nollywood Artistes, Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme, Vice President Namadi
Sambo have shown that they feel the
sufferings of the people as they paid a visit to them and provided relief materials. For this, i
say many thanks. The response of the state government under Governor Rochas
Okorocha is also impressive. Governor Okorocha who is a guru in 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.
Governor Okorocha came to Egbema with members of the state executive and other top
shots. He also organized a fund raising for the flood victims 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 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‘’ 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. ”
in
an SP poll i
conducted recently in my blog ,
88 percent rate Okorocha’s response to the flood victims as excellent while just 12 percent see it negatively. To
me, Governor Okorocha’s flood response to
my people is outstanding.
Okorocha did a good thing for the
people of the area with his lorry loads
of food for the
victims and he deserves commendation.
It will be a mistake to give traders of specious rumours cause to become giddy
over the governor’s time frame in reaching out with relief materials to the
flood victims. Let’s be clear from the outset and stop playing politics with
everything. Owelle is not perfect, and I
do not agree with some of his choices but when he does well we should shun unnecessary politics and praise him so he can do more. May God touch his heart to do more for my people.
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 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 like it or not will come
again. Next year’s floods could be worse than this.Something has to be done to
safeguard Imo from future flood.
I must confess that the recent policies
of Owelle are encouraging. There is rebranding
in his policies and decisions. It was Prof
Dora Akunyili, the former Nigerian Information Minister who 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 “new” people. Okorocha to
me strive to change the perception of Imo political terrain and by so doing is rebranding his style of governance in Imo State.
The people are watching. Once again, well done our governor, mboola.
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