Despite making wave in national and international community, kinsmen of Okonjo Iweala, Nigeria’s past Minister of Finance and coordinator of the national economy, are not happy over the state of her village, Ogwashi Uku, in Delta state, Southern Nigeria. Iweala’s profile has continued to rise as she recently emerged chairman of two international organisations in the United Kingdom.
However, Ogwashi Uku, her country home in Delta state is groaning in darkness as it has been cut off from the national power supply for over seven years. A visit to Ogwashi Uku, housing one of the Delta state polytechnics, one would see a village yet to experience the beauty and splendour for which she is known.
Although there are buildings and economic life coupled with the polytechnic established by the defunct administration of Chief James Onanefe Ibori, former governor of the state, bad roads, lack of electricity and potable water are among the myriads of challenges the people there are fighting daily to overcome.
A group under the aegis of The Forum has expressed displeasure over the development and pleaded with the government to consider the plight of the people and restore power to the area. The Forum, a body working with the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to restore electricity to the community, is displeased that the area which has produced prominent people is still groping in darkness after over seven years.
Sam Obidi, a member of the forum, said the economy of the area had deteriorated over time, resulting in the slow development of the community. He said with the recent step-down of power in Asaba and the adjoining communities, Ogwashi Uku would have had remarkable impact compared to when power supply came from Obosi in Anambra state.
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Obidi lamented that micro and small businesses in the community had suffered immense setbacks due to lack of public source of power. He explained that if electricity is restored, the community which hosts the state polytechnic would blossom, more jobs will be created and there would be a reduction of crime.
He said the high cost of operation in the area has caused computer business centres, barbing saloons, fashion houses, welders, other operators, to suffer and the businesses are going down the drain. He said that stakeholders in the community in 2016 committed about N20 million to the contractor handling the project to fix the transformers in the area, but they were vandalised.
Entering the polytechnic community in the brightness of the sun, one would see life bubbling with the invasion of students in the area. Life seems okay as the community appears flowing with the multitude of students from every part of the state.
The presence of students makes the town busy with motorcycles and bus shuttle transport from and to the campus. Minor businesses including mechanics, vulcanizers, trading on household wares, food stuff, farming and community transport form major life sustaining activities in Ogwashi Uku.
While some persons in the community seem contented since they can afford their daily meal from their meager earnings and partly sustain their families, others feel dissatisfied with the state of the community, especially for the fact that one of the eminent daughters of the area was a leading champion in the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Delta Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and Ngozi Okonjo Iweala
The issue of water would have been permanently solved in the community if the federal government had completed work on the dam project it embarked upon in the area many years ago. Somehow, the dam seems to have been abandoned with the death of Goodluck Jonathan’s government on May 29, 2015.
With the abandonment of the dam project, the community’s water challenge now grows on daily basis. This is because it was the hope of the people as it was conceived with the intention of ending the long problem of potable water in the community.
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As it is now, life in the community is not rosy for the people. A cold room operator, Mr. Ignatius Okobi, said he and his colleagues had no other option than to venture into other lines of business since it had become extremely difficult for them to operate cold rooms with power generators.
He noted that several enterprises in Ogwashi-Uku, which depended on electricity supply, had been forced to close down because of their inability to cope with high costs of production.
Okobi said the situation had forced many artisans, including welders, air conditioner and refrigerator repairers, tailors, barbers and computer operators, among others, to relocate from the community.
Mr. Nwaka Okorie, a retired civil servant, recalled that he once led a 17-member delegation to PHCN’s zonal office in Benin about three months ago to discuss the power supply problems.
He said that the PHCN officials admitted that power supply was generally poor around the country, adding that they, nonetheless, pledged that something would be done to improve electricity supply to the community.
Okorie added that the officials assured them that they would work out plans on how to supply electricity to the community at least three days in a week.
A prominent son of the area, Chief Andrew Okocha, Managing Director of AC Okocha Motors, is not happy with the happenings in Ogwashi Uku. Although he has all he could to take care of himself and his family, he has a serious concern for the growth and development of his community.
Generators commonly used in places with poor power supply
He said the dam which would have solved the water challenge, has now become a curse to the community. He said: “Because the water was flowing before the project started, but when they started working on it, the water is no longer flowing. The water has been pushed to one side. As it is now, it’s like a lake and not a river. People use to drink it before but now, you can’t drink it. It’s now like a red sea.
“You can’t use it to wash cloths because it’s dirty. So, we are worse off. The dam has now become a curse not blessing to us.
“Now let’s see it this way, when your own child is in charge of money and your projects are not working, what do you expect? Who will fight for you?,” Okocha queried. He said the dam, if it were working, could generate water that could serve neighbouring communities of Issele Uku, Ubulu Uku, Onicha Ugbo and most parts of Delta North because Ogwashi Uku is in an elevation and water could flow down if piped.
He added: “I know this because I was fully involved at the stage of conception. We held several meetings in Benin over the project. We knew that Ogwashi Uku could supply water to all these areas because of its elevation. We also sat down in Abuja with the former Finance Minister and wrote the electricity blueprint for Ogwashi Uku but all to no avail.”
Going back to history, Okocha said Ogwashi Uku community enjoyed government in the days of Samuel Ogbemudia when he was governor of Bendel state. He said it was Ogbemudia who brought light to the area.
According to him: “Ogbemudia brought light, water and tarred our roads, that was as far back as 1973. And since Ogbemudia left government, we have not enjoyed government at all. This is very painful to us. Ogwashi Uku used to bubble but since these facilities have faded away, everybody now runs away from the area to the cities.
“When democracy came, we thought it would help us but since 1999 till date there has been no single road tarred in Ogwashi Uku and there is no water. In fact, before 2010, light was coming once in a week, but since 2010 till now, there has been no flash of light in Ogwashi Uku. We buy water everyday. No motorable road, except this one tarred since 1973. So, we start wondering if we are part of Nigeria. Other people have been enjoying democracy, Ogwashi has never enjoyed democracy.”
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Besides Okonjo Iweala, whose profile has been on the rise, Okocha blamed other sons and daughters of the area for the challenges confronting the polytechnic town. He named a former member of the House of Representatives, Paschal Adigwe, who is now Special Adviser to Governor Okowa on Intergovernmental relations in Abuja; Tony Nwaka, who has been in government since 1999 and Onyemaechi Mrakpor, who had served in the state House of Assembly for two terms, but now a member of the House of Representatives as individuals in government who could have championed the development of the area for the good of the people.
Seeing all these people in government and no development seems to come forth, he said: “Why do we blame government, we trace the problem to ourselves. The position is that our people who have gone forward are not representing us over there.
“We have people who have not been able to articulate and push the case for their town. They will award contracts, nobody will do them. Over 100 years, Ogwashi Uku has been headquarters of a local government, Asaba, Agbor, Ukwuani were all under Ogwashi Uku before it was divided.
“It’s only Benin, Warri and Ogwashi Uku that were headquarters of administration then but now if you go to Warri, you will see evidence of democracy. Ogwashi Uku that was one of the tripods has nothing to show.”
He said leaders of the community had written several letters to the former Minister of Power, asking for Ogwashi Uku to be made supply centre but all efforts in that direction proved fatally abortive. He said that factories that were initially sited in the community had been shut down due to lack of power supply. He said the community is fully loaded with okada riders as if Ogwashi Uku is the headquarters of okada business in Delta state.
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Okocha who has made success in vehicle business, also blamed the certification of contracts awarded when the projects have not been completely executed. He reasoned that it was wrong for any government to issue certificate of project completion to a contractor when the project has not been completed.
He went furious saying: “How is it that somebody will not finish a project, he is given a certificate of completion. When you finish a job, they inspect it before giving you a certificate of completion and you take that to the ministry of finance for payment. But when a job is not done, they offer somebody certificate, I begin to wonder what is actually going on,“
However, Okocha never blamed Okonjo, arguing that although she was heading the finance ministry, he said she had the challenge of the National Assembly members and other members of the federal cabinet since she was not in the ministry that has the responsibility for executing projects.
But Mrakpor, member of the House of Representatives, listed many projects she executed in the local government ranging from hospital renovation to schools and many others which she said she did when she was member of the state House of Assembly.
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