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Onitsha eyesore: What has environment got to do
with it?
OKENWA R. NWOSU, M.D.
Upper Marlboro,
Maryland,
USA
Monday, June 13, 2005
The
city of
Onitsha is home to the largest open market in
West Africa and possibly the entire African
continent. This river town is connected to the sister city, Asaba, on the
western bank by the only bridge that straddles the lower Niger River thus making
it a strategic communication hub in south central Nigeria.
Onitsha is a bona fide Igbo city
replete with an ancient cultural institution that is presided over by the Obi of
Onitsha. Since the advent of British colonial rule,
Onitsha has steadily been
transformed from its tranquil past into a bustling urban center that is driven
mostly by commerce. The city also hosts the headquarters of Anglican and
Catholic churches as well as the two oldest educational institutions in the
area, DMGS and CKC, which were founded since the colonial era. For most
Igbo-owned businesses,
Onitsha acts as base from where their tentacles
are fanned out to reach all corners of
Nigeria and beyond. Almost
all major bus operating companies that handle intercity transportation
nationwide are based out of
Onitsha. It is also from this city
that distributing outposts for building materials, pharmaceuticals, auto spare
parts and a host of other goods are supplied and replenished throughout most
parts of the country, especially the East and North.
Because of its importance,
Onitsha was a hotly contested
theater during the Civil War. Suffice it to say that post-war
Onitsha was a ghost of what it used
to be and remains so till today in the eyes of many. Rural-urban migration,
which kicked off during the oil-boom epoch of the 1970s and ‘80s, led to
explosion of the city’s population without a commensurate growth in
infrastructure development to cope with influx of new residents from near and
far. The city limits expanded haphazardly engulfing farmlands and settlements
that lie to the north, south and east. Whatever city plan that was in place
prior to the Civil War was virtually discarded in post-war period thereby
setting the stage for evolution of the chaotic development process that has
transformed today’s
Onitsha metropolis into an eyesore.
The city and its environs belong to the equatorial rain forest belt of
West Africa and receive more than 80 inches of
rainfall annually, mostly during the 6 months of rainy season. Increasing demand
for housing to accommodate population explosion resulted in widespread clearing
of vegetation cover in farmlands and woodlands throughout the area. Traditional
floodwater channels were blocked when new buildings were sited in their paths
and roads were poorly constructed without adequate provision for drainage. Due
to
Onitsha’s peculiar topography,
erosion has become the greatest menace to the livelihood of this city’s
residents.
Post-independent Onitsha was
administered under the purview of an elected mayor whose task it was to take
charge of the city’s affairs. In post-war era, management of urban centers
throughout the country was transferred to government bureaucrats who, for
decades, took direct orders from military top brass that ruled
Nigeria until recently.
With pervasive official corruption that permeated all aspects of governance,
succeeding administrations looked the other way while cities like
Onitsha decayed beyond belief. As we
speak,
Onitsha, a city of more than 1.5
million people, has no functional waste management system. Every inch of the
metropolis is being smothered with heaps of garbage and other refuse which, at
times, pile up in shape of mountains. Open sewer flows into roadways and streets
even in the middle of dry season. Major thoroughfares and streets are partially
or completely blocked by human waste that spill over from illegal garbage dumps
that appear daily across the city. Bewildered residents have no choice but to
walk and ride on piles of all this filth routinely to get from one place to the
other. Effects of floodwater erosion throughout the city are compounded by
ubiquitous mounds of
 garbage
and trash which are routinely washed off and carried downhill after a typical
torrential downpour. Tons of debris, in turn, soon choke up drainage channels
thereby forcing floodwater to spillover and inundate roads, streets, business
premises and homesteads on regular basis. Okpoko and Fegge sections of
Onitsha bear the brunt of these
combination punches on regular basis.
Onitsha
is not only the largest urban center in Anambra state, but it is also the
economic engine that drives the livelihood of the overwhelming majority of its
citizens. The state government, therefore, has an obligation in making sure that
Onitsha lives up to its potential as
a vibrant commercial capital and a safe living space for millions of its
residents who call that metropolis home. Succeeding Anambra state
administrations have not lived up to expectation in addressing the dual menace
of erosion and pollution that have transformed urban centers like
Onitsha into eyesores which are
unfit for human habitation. Anambra State Environmental Protection Agency (ANSEPA)
was created to ensure that residents and businesses comply with environmental
standards delineated in existing statutes. The role of this agency should thus
be essentially that of monitoring and supervision to make sure that all who
violate existing codes are identified and disciplined according to the law. As
far as
Onitsha is concerned, ANSEPA has failed woefully
to discharge its responsibility to Anambra people, in particular and
Nigeria, in general.
Ongoing investigations have shown that, contrary to defined role of ANSEPA, this
agency has assumed the function of garbage and trash collection from some
Onitsha residents for a fee. Which
authority should then monitor ANSEPA to ensure that its new assumed role as a
trash/garbage collector agency is discharged effectively?
The filth and infrastructural
degradation that have overtaken Onitsha as a consequence of decades of neglect
are beginning to pressure the State House in
 Awka to do something
concrete now to change the present image of Onitsha and other decaying urban
centers in the state. The situation in Onitsha, however, is so bad and the
damage so extensive that the process of deriving and implementing workable
solutions, which can provide a much-needed facelift for the city, must not be
left to the whims and caprices of government bureaucracy. Anambra state
government obviously lacks the manpower and material resources which shall be
required to even make a dent in correcting the mess that is all over the city as
we speak. This is certainly not the time to point fingers and apportion blames
to anyone or group, including the present ANSEPA board. This agency should never
have been charged with the task of waste management in the first place since it
was never equipped to perform that function. Changing the composition or
leadership of ANSEPA, though politically and administratively expedient in the
short run, may not yield any tangible results down the road because this agency
lacks what it would take to meaningfully deal with the forces that deface
Onitsha.
The forces that create and sustain
the eyesore that is glaringly manifest in
Onitsha are evident anywhere
one looks in Anambra state and
beyond. Anambra is particularly vulnerable to floodwater erosion because of its
peculiar topography and soil formations that are unusually fragile once the
age-old equilibrium that has persisted for centuries is recklessly trampled upon
by modern-day developers.
 Managing
the eyesore in
Onitsha cannot yield expected
results without thorough understanding and review of collateral issues that
continue to devastate our God-given land. There must be a comprehensive and
sustainable plan of action to address erosion menace throughout Anambra state
before anyone can stop recurrent flooding that ravages Okpoko and Fegge sections
of
Onitsha, for example. Proper
environmental etiquette needs to be inculcated into the generality of the
populace before anyone can get a handle on mountains of garbage and trash that
litter the streets and block natural drainage channels in
Onitsha. A government agency like
ANSEPA should focus on enforcing the removal of buildings and other illegal
structures situated in traditional drainage channels, such as the Otumoye Creek
(Nwangene) basin, in order to restore normal floodwater drainage and leave
trash/garbage collection and disposal to city authorities. Most important,
appropriate legal and legislative framework must be put in place soon at each
level of governance to ensure that Onitsha eyesore, once removed, shall never be
allowed to recur.
Present condition of eastern Fegge
epitomizes everything that has gone wrong with today’s
Onitsha.
Silas Works Road branches off
Zik's Avenue, Fegge, just one block from the famous Ochanja Market. This street
used to be home for the once popular Silas Bread and later, a base for retail
tire business in
Onitsha metropolis. For those who
wished to avoid traffic congestion at
 Ochanja, the street
provided a last-minute diversion to link up with
Port Harcourt Road which lies
a few blocks to the South. In the 1980s and ‘90s, it was a choice route for
Run-for-life Campaign jogging exercises that used to originate from what is left
of former Government Field, Fegge. Silas Bread has since gone out of business
and tire dealers have also been relocated to Nkpor, off Onitsha/Enugu
expressway. This once-famous street can only be entered now via Zik's Avenue,
but one cannot proceed beyond 50 feet because most of the area is permanently
under water (open sewer). Just around the corner from
Silas Works Road, is what used
to be a paved short-cut access to Ochanja Market. This busy thoroughfare for
residents of southeastern parts of Fegge still handles heavy traffic even though
the street is completely blocked by a mountain of garbage. Access to Ochanja via
Port Harcourt Road to the south and Zik's avenue to the north have fallen into
disuse for quite a while because of total ruination. Getting in and out of Fegge
these days is certainly no child's play.
The eyesore in
Onitsha and elsewhere across the
land requires a broad-based citizens’ action now to assist in mobilizing and
deploying the enormous manpower and material resources that shall be needed to
turn things around for the better. A broad coalition made up of individuals,
groups and institutions (both national and multinational) shall provide the
platform for liaising with governments in affected jurisdictions to institute
models that shall eliminate and prevent recurrence of urban decay, starting with
Onitsha as ground zero. The nucleus
of such a coalition is already in place and is currently increasing the scope of
consultations to include individuals and groups that have genuine revulsion for
the inhuman conditions in which our folks are compelled to seek their
livelihood.
Onitsha can never attain its potential as a
burgeoning economic center for south central
Nigeria until decent
people, including multinational investors, find it an attractive and profitable
destination for investing their hard-earned capital.
The present image of
Onitsha portrays us as a people
without a sense of self pride and sound cultural values. The eyesore that
Onitsha has become in this era does
not represent what we are as a people and our aspirations for the future. It is
our patriotic duty to do our utmost now to help to give this city a facelift.
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