By Raymond Ozoji, Awka
Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State has been enmeshed in environmental devastations such as flood, blocked drainages, indiscriminate dumping of refuse and poor waste management coupled with lack of portable drinking water for the people.
Residents have had to travel a long distance from their homes to fetch water from streams to drink, cook and for other purposes irrespective of whether the stream water is contaminated or not.
Flood has also been the worst nightmare of the people of Oyi Local Government Area as residents testified that whenever it rained, flood menace became the order of the day because they would no longer be able to access their farmlands or take their farm products to the markets as flood submerged village pathways.
These were the sufferings of the five villages and fifteen political wards of Oyi Local Government Area for many decades until the advent of Hon. Dr. Emmanuel Ikechukwu Nweke, the incumbent Chairman of the council area.
An independent tour of Oyi Local Government Area conducted by this journalist revealed that the people are now happy that the Council Chairman has rescued them from years of perennial flood devastations; saved them from drinking contaminated water and other public health hazards.
Responses from community members during the investigations revealed that Hon. Dr. Emmanuel Ikechukwu Nweke has left indelible impressions in their hearts because his interventions saved their communities from catastrophe and total collapse.
This journalist who took time to tour the five villages of Oyi Local Government Area, found out that the chairman began his interventions from the local government headquarters at Nteje where he renovated and refurbished the council secretariat giving the complex a befitting status.
Leader of the Oyi Congress of Councillors Rt. Hon. Emeka Nwabude, who spoke to this journalist at Nteje ward 4, noted that the Executive Mayor rescued about 8 villages that have been experiencing flooding for over a decade.
He said that the Congress appealed to the Mayor and he responded proactively with the construction of a massive culvert in the area to control flood and to save Achalla, Agba, Umuazu and other villages from the traumatic experiences of flooding.
At Awkuzu ward 2 specifically Ezinkwo Obinuno Awkuzu, it was the same tale of how flood ravaged the community for many years until Oyi Local Government under Hon. Dr. Emmanuel Ikechukwu Nweke intervened with the construction of another gigantic culvert to save about three villages from the disaster.
Investigations at Awkuzu ward 4 revealed how the incumbent Chairman and Mayor of Oyi Local Government Area constructed culvert along Hon. Ossy Ilozue road to end decades of flooding in the area which affected the traditional ruler of Awkuzu Prof. Anikwenze and a former chairman of Oyi Local Government Area Hon. Ossy Ilozue.
According to the Head of Works Department of Oyi Local Government, Arch. Onwubufo Onyekachi, the flood water along Hon. Ossy Ilozue road formed what he described as a pool where children used to swim. He said that it was impassable such that the traditional ruler of Awkuzu town had to resort to alternative routes to access his house which took longer time.
He emphasized that the flood on the Ossy Ilozue road grounded petty traders and farmers because it connected Nkwo-Awkuzu market and other villages in the ward. That the villagers heaved a sigh of relief when Mayor Emma Nweke constructed culvert on the road to control flood and to ease movement.
Further investigations at Awkuzu ward 4 revealed community water scheme at Amudala village square executed by Emma Nweke’s administration.
The HOD works equally disclosed that the Chairman extended the rural water scheme to Nteje, Nkwelle-Ezunaka, Ogbunike and Umunya respectively.
He told this journalist that the Mayor saw the dire need to respond to the yearnings of the people and provided sustainable source of clean water for them because the villagers, according to him, traveled very long distance to get water from unprotected sources, adding that the beauty of the rural water scheme is that it is solar-powered and depends on green energy for sustenance.
A resident in the area who identified himself as Mr. Richard Ideho said they were happy with the project because they now have access to clean portable water unlike in the past when they had to trek miles away from their homes scouting for it.
Another person who identified himself as the Councillor representing Awkuzu ward 3 (Ifite-Awkuzu) Engr. Emmanuel Aniemena, affirmed that the water project at Amudala village square is a motorised borehole and has eased stress of travelling to distant places to fetch water from the streams.
Aniemena who described the water scheme as a good project, noted that the chairman replicated it in all the five communities of Oyi Local Government Area such that the fifteen wards of the council area are beneficiaries of the rural water scheme.
The tour of projects in Oyi Local Government Area executed by Emma Nweke’s administration took the investigation to IfiteUmueri-Olamme-Transformer road where Arch. Onwubufo said that the Mayor constructed the road inorder to assist Awkuzu people especially those transporting their farm products to Nkwo-Awkuzu market.
He said the road was terribly bad and impassable before the intervention such that people living along the road almost fled from their homes due to flood menace. But the rapid response on the road by the Mayor, according to him, saved the situation.
At Umunya ward 2 Ezi-Umunya precisely Udoamaka Estate and Green Gate Estate Nkwelle-Ezunaka, this journalist found out that the Chairman has eased the sufferings and hardships of inhabitants of the estates through construction of culverts to tackle and control flooding in the areas.
Meanwhile same intervention is being replicated at ward 2 Nkwelle-Ezunaka, where the Head of Works Department said that Emma Nweke’s administration is controlling flood with the construction of a massive culvert to end the catastrophic experience in the area, adding that whenever it rained, the whole place is over-flooded.
A shop owner in the area who identified herself as Kosisochukwu Oneh said it is usually a disaster whenever it rained because the magnitude of flood in the area stalled both human and vehicular movements even as she thanked the local government authority for coming to their rescue.
At Amuche village square Nkwelle-Ezunaka ward 2 where Emma Nweke’s administration instituted another solar-powered borehole water facility, the villagers expressed joy and profound gratitude to Oyi Local Government Authority for the intervention.
Mrs. Eucharia Okoro who spoke to this journalist about the water project sited at Amuche village square, said she has fetched water from it and she is grateful to the council authority for providing portable drinking water for them.
Mrs. Okoro attested to the fact that the water scheme is beneficial and helpful to them because she has personally ended years of going to buy sachets of water just to bathe. She added that she now has access to clean water everyday through the borehole water project sited in the community.
The tour which covered solid waste evacuations at Ezinkwo Awkuzu axis where students of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University have their hostels, also featured desilting of drainages along Oyi sections of the Onitsha-Enugu federal highway coupled with the replacement of vandalised streetlights along the Oyi axis of the Chinua Achebe International Airport with solar-powered streetlights as well as provision of metal waste bins to curb indiscriminate dumping of refuse across Oyi local government.
The Oyi council chairman Hon. Dr. Emmanuel Ikechukwu Nweke who told this journalist that his interventions were not only in physical infrastructures, said his human capital development strides can not be overemphasized as his educational endowment programmes have continued to yield massive positive results.
Nweke who told this journalist that he was the first elected Mayor of Oyi Local Government Area, said his administration instituted an endowment fund where First Class Graduates received N1 Million prize money from Oyi Local Government Authority to encourage them and to reiterate that education is very important in the life of every individual and it is the kind of legacy he would pass on to his successor.
He said he was the first chairman to build an asphalted road with drainages in Oyi Local Government Area since it’s creation. The road according to him is the IfiteUmueri-Olamme-Transformer-St. Michael Catholic Church road in the council area, adding that his vision is to make Oyi Local Government Area better than he met it.
Nweke emphasized that he instituted projects in all the five communities and fifteen political wards that comprise Oyi Local Government Area and that the projects were initiated and executed in accordance with the most pressing needs and demands of the people.
Although the tour of the projects revealed that they were not make-believe projects but verifiable concrete projects sited at strategic locations in the council area, Dr. Emma Nweke stated that those were the kind of legacies he wants to bequeath onto his successor and the people of Oyi Local Government.
The outgoing Mayor who told this journalist that he came, he saw and he conquered, thanked Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo for giving him the opportunity to serve his people without blemishes.
