SLUM HABITATION: OKPOKO RESIDENTS RISE TO THE CHALLENGE

It was almost 4a.m., when Mazi Madubuko got up from his creaky six-spring bed he shared with Ifeoma, his wife, to attend to his morning needs. In next to no time, he had reasoned that other early risers with similar needs would be equally rushing from their shanties to do same.

Therefore Madubuko groped his way out in the dark, taking care not to step on his seven children who lay on the floor. He pushed open the door, and squatted right outside his one-room zinc apartment situated right on top of the water way in the neighborhood and started performing his 'early morning rituals.'

Plop, plop sounds could be heard in the almost virgin dawn as human waste dropped into the wide gutter that curved and stretched down the road. Not long, Mazi Madubuko finished, washed his face, hands, and legs and popped a chewing stick into his   mouth.

Shortly after, he was heard cheerfully singing praises to God, as he dressed up for work at a nearby aluminum plant, where many of his filthy-looking neighbours will soon converge to join him.

Welcome to a typical morning in Okpoko, a suburb of Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra State.

Even though similar situations can be observed in lesser forms in the other commercial nerve centres of Awka and Nnewi, Okpoko appears to be the greatest victim of such scandalous living as filth has blocked all gutters in the vicinity thus causing heavy flooding to the detriment of residents and road users.

Without doubt, Okpoko could be labeled the biggest slum settlement in the South-east region and probably the dirtiest.

Investigations revealed that all efforts to stop the trend in the past had bore little or no fruit. However, the dwellers are always in the fore-front of calls on successive administrations in the state to come to their rescue while at the same time they have continued to be architect of their own fate.

A visit to Okpoko showed that it is not only dirty, but inhabits most of the poor in the city of Onitsha, who make do with no infrastructure nor basic necessities of life.

If not for some magnificent churches of various denominations that dot the area, a first time visitor would think that the residents had lost their senses because of the overflowing dirt, which litters the streets and gutters, particularly when it rains.

It is unbelievable, but quite true that these prayer houses are often built on top of waterways and channels, without any sense of propriety even as the irregular pattern of building these structures makes water flow an impossible task. For residents of Okpoko community in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, the return of the rains brings tension and sleepless nights.

The blocked drainages and water channels had made water to overflow into their houses, putting them in perpetual fears.

Besides the damage wreaked by flood, residents face the danger of epidemics and environmental disasters. It was also gathered that during the rainy season, all residential, businesses and places of worship in Okpoko are flooded and oftentimes property and other valuables worth millions are washed away or destroyed by the flood. The squalor in Okpoko accentuated by flooding has since contributed in the grading of the area as a slum, and this is worsened as it breeds criminals. The crime rate in the area had soared up to 79 per cent when compared with other areas of the state until Mr. Peter Obi's ascent as governor of Anambra State.

Investigation revealed that Obi has not only lowered the crime rate to a negligible proportion, but has also dealt decisively with the health and sanitary issues in the area.

Inspecting the ongoing multi-billion naira dredging and re-channeling of the Sacamori Drain, which is expected to provide a permanent solution to the challenges of persistent flooding in parts of Onitsha, Obi explained that the dredging project would involve, among other things, the total cleaning up of the drainage channels and re-channeling them to ensure proper discharge of flood into the river, as well as erecting concrete work to protect the boarders and other critical parts of the drains.

He expressed regrets that poor management of the environment over the years, had resulted in the blockage of the drain, disclosing that the contractor has assured that aggressive work to open up the area within 45 days would be sustained.

Obi said that the sustained efforts has enabled his administration to attract Federal Government partnership on the project and warned residents of the area to stop dumping refuse in drainage channels so that the aim of the project would not be defeated.

The governor disclosed that the state had already attracted one of the biggest direct foreign investments to the area valued at N20 billion with the capacity to employ about 1,000 workers.

It would be recalled that in October last year, the Swedish International Construction Company, one of the United Nations  Habitat technical partners for mass housing and slums upgrading projects had through its delegation assured that they would assist the state actualize its mission.

It was gathered that the partners had agreed to build factories and bring in facilities that would produce low cost building materials to assist the state to provide mass housing at competitive prices which would facilitate the state project on slum upgrading.

Leader of the delegation, Mr. Martin Frick had revealed that they were partnering with Anambra State because of the government's deep commitment towards the improvement of the lives of people living in slum, extolling Obi for his keen interest in improving the lives of the poor.

Before the clearing of the Sacamori drain, Obi had visited the site for almost 10 times in company of the European Union representatives and Federal Government officials which demonstrated the importance of the project to the state.

The residents who are now learning how to keep their surrounding clean and habitable have been warned that the state government would sustain its Operation Make Onitsha Clean.

Also, the community has vowed to the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Mike Egbobuike that they would set up a task force that would work closely with the Anambra State Environmental Protection Agency (ANSEPA) to safeguard the flood channels from die-hard refuse dumpers.

They also agreed to clear and reconstruct damaged minor drainages in front of their houses to avoid being submerged by flood in their sleep.

In the new pact with the commissioner, the people promised to stop trading along the Obodoukwu road, as a committee would allocate empty portions of land for that purpose; as well as provide refuse bags and dustbins for refuse disposal.