When Owerri bowed to rampaging flood

By Chidi Nkwopara

The last two weeks of July 2019, was a very trying period for the Chief Emeka Ihedioha administration, not because the people revolted, but for the huge flood that visited Owerri  municipality and other communities.

•Flood takes over Owerri, following the damage done to the drainage system, courtesy of Chief Rochas Okorocha’s urban renewal policy. Photo: Chidi Nkwopara

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Apart from the rampaging flood, residents of Owerri and commuters, were equally faced with destructive craters on virtually all the municipal roads and highways in the state.

South East Voice can still remember that instead of blaming the palpable shoddy jobs he was doing on the roads, Okorocha rather preferred to blame what he called “acid rain” that was falling in the state.

However, all respondents contacted by South East Voice for comments on the issue, blamed non-involvement of professionals in the execution of projects, poor handling of projects, absence of engineering drawings, no environmental impact assessment tests and more.

It is not lost on anybody that the immediate past administration never deemed it fit to assemble professionals to help in proferring solutions to the problems facing the state and the citizenry.

Beyond these facts, economic activities slump, vehicles were damaged. Wares, homes and properties were submerged and destroyed by the rampaging flood! The outcry became deafening!!

Armed with the reality on ground, Governor Ihedioha summoned a meeting of Imo professionals in the engineering field, to discuss the flood menace and how to effectively tackle it.

Kicking off the meeting, the Governor said: “I believe it is necessary that we seek the views of our patriotic citizens. We will always give them the platform to come and make inputs and bring professional ideas, because I understand the precision of which engineers deal with problems.

“We have noticed collapse of bridges as a result of no reinforcements. We are having critical challenges on our roads. We are in a society where those who have failed want to drag us down.

“It makes sense for us to have you as a team to deal with this matter and come up with solutions. Kindly look at these issues and give us  ideas on how best to proffer solutions to our challenges.”

One thing is very clear at this juncture, the Governor’s meeting with the professional bodies is a reaffirmation of his resolve to administer  participatory and people oriented governance to Imo people.

With what has just happened in the instant case, Ihedioha’s government is clearly inclusive, irrespective of  where anybody comes from, who they are and what they do for a living.

It is also clear that Governor Ihedioha is truly interested in what anybody can do and will do, in the overall interest of the state and it’s people and not  the other way  round.

Speaking at the meeting, the chairman Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, Owerri, Dr. L.O Uzoigwe, recalled that the Governor’s action was the first time a serving Imo State Governor would interface with professional bodies to look for solutions to a state issue.

“The massive flooding witnessed recently in Owerri municipality could have been avoided if the former governor, Rochas Okorocha, heeded to professional advice from relevant bodies”, Uzoigwe said.

It was also his considered opinion that “the urban renewal programme of Okorocha’s administration, which was needless, led to the blocking of drainage systems and distorted the city’s master plan”.

The NSE chairman equally recalled that the body raised the alarm on the standard of infrastructure built by the former administration, notably the Amakohia and Orji fly-overs, as they didn’t meet the least quality of a flyover.

The parley may have become history, but the memory will remain. It has also become history that Ihedioha not only used the opportunity to identify roles which the professional bodies can and ought to play in the process of rebuilding the state, but equally charged engineers and other allied professionals with the issue of finding a lasting solution to flooding in Owerri municipality.

The engineers know the typography of  Owerri and the water channels, hence tackling the problems from the foundation wouldn’t be an impossible task for them.

The governor was very right when he told his guests that: “Being a governor does not make one a master in all fields of human endeavour. Being a governor does not make one an engineer over night or a mechanic, tailor, shoemaker, electrician and a carpenter.”

He acknowledged that despite being the number one citizen, the knowledge and contributions of others were not only significant but very important in the rebuilding process.

How these professionals will tackle the assignment will definitely determine government’s action and the final result. Only time will tell whether the rampaging flood will eventually bow to the superior power of knowledge, professionalism and government power.

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