Charles Okogene
Now that the final phase of the laying of underground PVC water pipes and valves for a steady supply of clean, pure, pipe borne water to Ogwashi Uku residents have been completed, what does other neigbouring towns in the Aniocha South Local Government Area, which Ogwashi Uku has for ages been the headquartres are to expect?
ALSO READ: Kashamu dissociates self from defectors
The above is certainly the big bold question on the lips of an average Ubulu Uku, Ishagu, Ewulu, Adonte, Abbah Unor, Nsukwa, Ejeme Anigor/Unor and others too numerous to mention that make up the LG. Incidentally, Hon. Austin Chikezie, who represents the constituency at the state house of assembly hails from one of the above mentioned towns.
No doubt, Ogwashi Uku remains the most cosmopolitan town in the LGA, it is also the most populated after Ubulu Uku, whose daughter, Joan Mrakpor, once represented the constituency at the state house of assembly and the Federal House of Representatives, a factor it has used to produced more of the LGA chairman than any other town in the LG put together; perhaps that is the joker Honourable Pascal Adigiwe, one of the present senior special advisers to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and a former House of Representatives member in the hay-day of former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori, used in convincing Okowa and his cabinet, to revive the water project in the town.
Well, whatever his hold on Okowa whom Deltans love to refer to as Road Master, the fact remains that Hon. Adigiwe has been on this water project for long; he attracted the Ogwashi Uku Dam during his days in the green chambers. For that we say a big congratulations to him, after all, an Anioma maxim has it that “ebe onye bi ko owa chic” and “oyibo man” says “self preservation first.
That done and dusted, this writer believes that the water project and indeed all other development projects that makes life worth living only come and end in Ogwashi Uku.
Now that Ogwashi Uku, a town with more than three government owned secondary schools, a polytechnic, a functional general hospital, a post office, a police station and training outlet, a state prison, a state/Obasanjo Farm branch and a yet to be completed dam, even the Nigerian Navy School in Delta State is said to be sitting on Ogwashi Uku land and not that of Ibusa as the institution is before Oboshi River, if one is coming from Ogwashi Uku through the the Ogwashi end of Ughelli/Asaba Expressway, and after the river if the journey is from Asaba; and it is a known fact that in Anioma, towns rarely cross rivers/streams to own land. While that remains a matter for the state government and the National Boundary Commission to adjudicate on, the silent controversy rages on and will be a different topic for this writer another day in the nearest future. It is also time for those in authority or those who are close to those in the corridor of power, to begin to think of how to spread some of these developmental projects to other towns and villages within the locality to ensure even development of the LGA. Ogwashi Uku, on its part, should also begin to play the big brother or fatherly role by making sure that some of these projects is also sited in other towns within the LGA; it should not be the only town fit for such amenities.
Sure Ogwashi Uku is far from other towns within the LGA and so it ‘may’ not be cost ‘effective’ to extend the water project to such towns, but what of a similar water project in Adonte that was initiated by the then military government of Brig. John Iniegie and, which has been abandoned by the successive governments of the state.
At its conception, the Adonte water project, which ran for few years before its pipes went dry, was conceived to supply water to towns like Abah Unor, Ukwu Oba, Nsukwa when fully completed with a water reservoir. All that, like they say, have gone into voicemail while the generator initially installed by the government including the old school abesteous pipes procured by the government of that time for the project, have all rot away just as land speculators have encroached on the parcel of land meant for building of the reservoir. That, however, is not a problem as the government can reclaim its land anytime it wants.
It is also time for Honourable Adigiwe who once represented the area at the House of Representatives and still represents the LGA as an adviser to Okowa, to make a stronger demand for the development of the area especially in the areas of provision of access roads that links one town to the other.
Though, he is instrumental to the proposed road network the state government wants to construct to link Ubulu Unor to Egbudu Aka Ashama, Adonte to join the recently constructed Abbah Unor Road that joins the Ughelli/Asaba Expresss Road which was reportedly attracted by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi. Until this is done, Ogwashi Uku, like they say, will remain the only ” one eyed man in the midst of blind people.”
So, Honourable Adigiwe, other towns in the LGA especially those known as Nsukwa area, needs water too because water is life; but before then, they need roads.
Daalu shine!
