Nigeria stands on the three legs of the tripod—Hausa/ Fulani, Yoruba and the Igbo. The Igbo people are a homogenous ethnic group and they live in the South-Eat of Nigeria, which is their ancestral home. Five states, Ebonyi, Abia, Imo, Enugu and Anambra states, make up the South-East geopolitical zone. The natives of the South-East states have the same cultural practices. And they speak the same language, which is Igbo, although we’ve different Igbo language dialects.
Anambra State, which we are concerned about in this article, was carved out of the old Anambra State in 1991 by retired General Ibrahim Babangida. Its slogan is “the light of the nation.” And the state is living up to its slogan with its sons and daughters extending the frontiers of science and technology in many different countries of the world. Anambra natives have achieved remarkable distinctions in the areas of political leadership, sports, music and literature too.
Anambra State is the home state of the Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, a freedom fighter par excellence; Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, the former African sprints queen of the tracks; the late Chief Osita Osadebe, a high life music maestro; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an internationally recognised award-winning novelist; Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a former Commonwealth secretary-general, and others I will not list here for the reason of space. So the slogan, “the light of the nation,” is a succinct encapsulation of the true essence of Anambra State.
But Anambra had fallen on evil times in the recent past. In the first decade of the 21st century, soon after Nigeria had transited to democratic governance after a political lull, the issue of godfatherism nearly derailed the developmental trajectory of the state. Godfatherism, which characterised the state, distracted the sitting governors and impeded the development of the state.
Thankfully, today, Anambra State is no longer in the firm grip of political godfathers and buccaneers, who have itchy fingers and thieving propensity.
But Anambra still has its teething and hydra-headed problems, which constitute a spoke in its wheel of progress. The issues of poor infrastructural development, insecurity of life and property, ecological disasters ravaging several towns, the inhabitants’ penchant for committing acts of lawlessness and the people’s entrenched culture of uncleanliness militate against the true and sustainable development of Anambra State.
Lately, Anambra, which used to be an oasis of peace and tranquillity, has morphed into a killing field. Insecurity of life and property is asphyxiating life out of the state. And it has dealt a big blow to the developmental initiatives of Anambra state’s political leaders. Now, unknown gunmen, who enforce the sit-at-home order every Monday, kill people and burn public and government-owned buildings. Anambra State is in a near state of anarchy.
In Anambra, some people still ride motorcycles in areas where people are prohibited from riding motorcycles making it difficult for the police and the people to tell armed robbers and innocent people apart.
In addition to the people’s breach of the ban on riding motorcycles in some towns, many commercial bus drivers drive their buses at breakneck speed against the flow of traffic in total disregard of the safety of the lives of pedestrians. And drivers, who are drunk and high on mind-altering and psychedelic drugs toot their horns loudly and ceaselessly while stuck in slowly-moving traffic, making people ask questions about the drivers’ mental state.
It is not only drivers that commit atrocious deeds and acts of incivility on Anambra roads. Oftentimes, passengers who had got on a bus would throw out orange and banana peelings through the windows of the bus, while the bus was in motion, littering the roadsides with dirt and refuse. And hawkers and traders who trade on roadsides do dump refuse into our drainages. This causes the blockage of the road drainages. So when it rains heavily, rainwater will overflow the drainages and spill on the roads. There is a nexus between the ecological disasters ravaging towns in Anambra State and the Anambra people’s culture of uncleanliness and lawlessness.
More so, in some semi-urban towns, which are densely populated, portions of the roads have been inadvertently converted to dump sites. And our political leaders at the local government and state levels have turned a blind eye to them. But the stench oozing from the refuse dump sites on our roads poses a grave danger to the people’s health. But being habituated to living in the midst of dump sites, they gloss over the fact that the foul air wafting from the dump sites endanger their lives.
Therefore, it behoves Governor Soludo to speedily tackle all the problems bedevilling the state in order to give Anambra people a new lease of life. He ought to know that it is his leadership scorecard that will guarantee him a place in the leadership hall of fame.
- Chiedu Okoye, a poet, writes from Uruowulu-Obosi Anambra State
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected]
