The
death trap in Ndikelionwu
By SUCCESS UCHIME
By SUCCESS UCHIME
An infrastructure is meant to serve the people to
whom such infrastructure is provided for, and also serve them optimally for
their own good. It is to provide pleasure and succor to humans – that is what
it is supposed to be. But when the reverse is the case, it becomes a thing of
curse instead of the blessings it is originally intended to provide.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defined infrastructure as the basic equipment and
structures (such as roads and bridges) that are needed for a country, region,
or organization to function properly. The
same dictionary defines death trap as, a building, vehicle, etc., that are very
dangerous and could cause someone’s death. When the citizens of a country are
dying unjustly, especially from the so-called infrastructure that is supposed
to sustain their lives, it calls for the urgent attention of the government,
and other major stakeholders. They have the civic responsibility to stem such
ugly scenario.
One such infrastructure that has posed itself as a death trap is the long stretch of road that runs from Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area (L.G.A) down to Umunze the headquarters of Orumba South L.G.A. The original intent of those who fixed that infrastructure was for the common good of the users of the facility. They never intended it to bring discomfort or frustration to the people. Far be it from that!
If you have ever taken a careful observation on the Ndikelionwu axis of the long stretch of the road, you will notice that there is no week or month that passes without recording one form of accident or the other. It is either a vehicle sways off the tract, or it hits down passersby, which in most times resulted to instant death. These are people who are supposed to be direct beneficiaries of the infrastructure, but have turned to be adversely affected for no fault of theirs, by the same infrastructure that is supposed to serve them well; the infrastructure that is supposed to function properly for their own good.
As a regular user of that road, or maybe you are very familiar with that road, you will observe that there is a very sharp descending slop after the Central School, Ndikelionwu (that is, coming from Amaokpala), and immediately after the slop are horrible blind curves after exiting the orie market; towards the post office bus stop, a regular rendezvous for the people. The square where business activities are supposed to be carried out, but incidentally it has been deserted as a result of the great danger the spot has posed to the indigenes. Then leaving off that spot is another dangerous slop and blind curve heading down to Ndikelionwu town hall. The level of uncontrollable speed vehicles make on that axis is worrisome to say the least.
One start to wonder (though am not a wonderer) why concrete proactive measures are not made by the authorities concerned to forestall the ugly menace being experienced by the people on a regular basis. In fact this reminds me of what a colleague, an American missionary once told me. He said that the difference between them, the West, and us Africans (the developing world) is the issue of being proactive. He said unlike them, we usually wait for calamity to happen before we start to run helter-skelter. I learnt a lot of lessens from the postulation of my friend. Truly speaking, we waste a lot of lives this side of the globe as a result of our inability to think ahead and predict the future. We only live in the present; never thinking about the future, and how to make lives better for the people. We weep and cry when we are not supposed to do so. We only wait to react when the deed is already done. To me being reactive when we are supposed to be proactive is the highest level of foolishness at work, no apologies to anyone.
Though some road signs are spotted here and there, but I am thinking (I think am thinking well) they are not enough, considering how dangerous the terrain is. There need to be very visible and clear road signs to warn road users of impending dangers. Bold signs like “YOU ARE APPROCAHING A BLIND CURVE,” ACCIDENT PRONE AREA,” etc are supposed to be visibly placed. They need to pervade the entire area. Or possibly, enough bumps should be fixed at certain points to slow down the ever speeding vehicles that never considered the interest of the other road users. This is what right thinking people should do! We don’t wait until the whole people are all dead before we put on our thinking caps.
If the government whose civic responsibility is to fix the visible road signs and bumps, if possible, is not living up to their civic duties, I should think that the town’s union, the Ndikelionwu Welfare Association (NWA), should start thinking positively toward that. Or are they trying to rationalize the cost of such project, over and above human lives? My question is this, what amount of money can equate a single life? I know the town’s union president, Mazi Okey Okereke very well as a great philanthropist, who could close his eyes and pick up the bill no matter what. I do also know that there are such other great philanthropists in the town who could afford to single handedly execute such a project, no matter the cost to them. May be it has not crossed their minds to pursue such a noble and laudable project. May be!
One Ndikelionwu woman, a petty trader, I encountered, who owns a shop on that highway revealed to me that the reason why business activities are not going on along that axis is as a result of the clandestine activities of some drivers, who take pleasure in knocking the people down on regular basis. She even said that if proactive measures are not taken to forestall the trend, the orie market along the same road will continue to witness low patronage of people. According to her by seven o’ cloak in the evening the whole area is deserted, as no one wants to endanger his or her live. She also recounted her ugly experience with hoodlums who take pleasure in dispossessing people of their belongings. Even when the so-called town’s vigilant group is supposed to be protecting lives and property. She therefore called on the government to quickly come to their aid before they are all sent to the land of the ghosts. I also heard of a pathetic case of one Mobile Police officer who was ruthlessly crushed to death on the highway while waiting to board a vehicle. Another school girl was also said to have been crushed to death on alerting from a motorcycle that brought her home from school. I really wept on such great losses. These were just isolated cases. If one has to chronicle the so many such other incidences on that road, space will really not be enough for such an exercise.
Ndikelionwu is not the only town affected by such grievous neglect. Moving a little bit away from Ndikelionwu down to Omogho axis, the entire stretch is in a terrible and horrible state of disrepair, while no one cares about it. It has deteriorated to the extent that it has posed a great danger to the people, as arm robbers have converted it as their save-heavens. It has become a den for them, where they constantly harass innocent Nigerians. Or are we talking of damages done to peoples vehicles as a result of the gully like potholes on the road? Something must be done, and done quickly too! It is very ironical and funny indeed to note that the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), in the area have also converted the axis to a checkpoint. Their thinking is that road users must be forced to either slow down or made to totally stop at the bad spots of the road, thereby giving them easy access to arrest and extort money from such unsuspecting road users. Something must be done, and done urgently for the interest of Nigerians who suffer untold hardships on the road.
Moving a little further also to Ufuma, Ajalli and beyond, even Oko and upwards to Ekwulobia axis are begging for the attention of the authorities concerned. The portion on the Ekwulobia erosion site has become a death trap also, as accidents occur there on regular basis. I think all the Local Government bosses (Orumba North & South and Aguata), the FRSC, the NPF, the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and by extension other major stakeholders involved should start putting on their thinking cap now. To me, I feel that is the right thing to do immediately, before the future generations of the people are no more. Here I rest my case, thanks and God bless!
 |
| President General NWA, Mazi Okey Okereke |
One such infrastructure that has posed itself as a death trap is the long stretch of road that runs from Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area (L.G.A) down to Umunze the headquarters of Orumba South L.G.A. The original intent of those who fixed that infrastructure was for the common good of the users of the facility. They never intended it to bring discomfort or frustration to the people. Far be it from that!
If you have ever taken a careful observation on the Ndikelionwu axis of the long stretch of the road, you will notice that there is no week or month that passes without recording one form of accident or the other. It is either a vehicle sways off the tract, or it hits down passersby, which in most times resulted to instant death. These are people who are supposed to be direct beneficiaries of the infrastructure, but have turned to be adversely affected for no fault of theirs, by the same infrastructure that is supposed to serve them well; the infrastructure that is supposed to function properly for their own good.
As a regular user of that road, or maybe you are very familiar with that road, you will observe that there is a very sharp descending slop after the Central School, Ndikelionwu (that is, coming from Amaokpala), and immediately after the slop are horrible blind curves after exiting the orie market; towards the post office bus stop, a regular rendezvous for the people. The square where business activities are supposed to be carried out, but incidentally it has been deserted as a result of the great danger the spot has posed to the indigenes. Then leaving off that spot is another dangerous slop and blind curve heading down to Ndikelionwu town hall. The level of uncontrollable speed vehicles make on that axis is worrisome to say the least.
One start to wonder (though am not a wonderer) why concrete proactive measures are not made by the authorities concerned to forestall the ugly menace being experienced by the people on a regular basis. In fact this reminds me of what a colleague, an American missionary once told me. He said that the difference between them, the West, and us Africans (the developing world) is the issue of being proactive. He said unlike them, we usually wait for calamity to happen before we start to run helter-skelter. I learnt a lot of lessens from the postulation of my friend. Truly speaking, we waste a lot of lives this side of the globe as a result of our inability to think ahead and predict the future. We only live in the present; never thinking about the future, and how to make lives better for the people. We weep and cry when we are not supposed to do so. We only wait to react when the deed is already done. To me being reactive when we are supposed to be proactive is the highest level of foolishness at work, no apologies to anyone.
Though some road signs are spotted here and there, but I am thinking (I think am thinking well) they are not enough, considering how dangerous the terrain is. There need to be very visible and clear road signs to warn road users of impending dangers. Bold signs like “YOU ARE APPROCAHING A BLIND CURVE,” ACCIDENT PRONE AREA,” etc are supposed to be visibly placed. They need to pervade the entire area. Or possibly, enough bumps should be fixed at certain points to slow down the ever speeding vehicles that never considered the interest of the other road users. This is what right thinking people should do! We don’t wait until the whole people are all dead before we put on our thinking caps.
If the government whose civic responsibility is to fix the visible road signs and bumps, if possible, is not living up to their civic duties, I should think that the town’s union, the Ndikelionwu Welfare Association (NWA), should start thinking positively toward that. Or are they trying to rationalize the cost of such project, over and above human lives? My question is this, what amount of money can equate a single life? I know the town’s union president, Mazi Okey Okereke very well as a great philanthropist, who could close his eyes and pick up the bill no matter what. I do also know that there are such other great philanthropists in the town who could afford to single handedly execute such a project, no matter the cost to them. May be it has not crossed their minds to pursue such a noble and laudable project. May be!
One Ndikelionwu woman, a petty trader, I encountered, who owns a shop on that highway revealed to me that the reason why business activities are not going on along that axis is as a result of the clandestine activities of some drivers, who take pleasure in knocking the people down on regular basis. She even said that if proactive measures are not taken to forestall the trend, the orie market along the same road will continue to witness low patronage of people. According to her by seven o’ cloak in the evening the whole area is deserted, as no one wants to endanger his or her live. She also recounted her ugly experience with hoodlums who take pleasure in dispossessing people of their belongings. Even when the so-called town’s vigilant group is supposed to be protecting lives and property. She therefore called on the government to quickly come to their aid before they are all sent to the land of the ghosts. I also heard of a pathetic case of one Mobile Police officer who was ruthlessly crushed to death on the highway while waiting to board a vehicle. Another school girl was also said to have been crushed to death on alerting from a motorcycle that brought her home from school. I really wept on such great losses. These were just isolated cases. If one has to chronicle the so many such other incidences on that road, space will really not be enough for such an exercise.
Ndikelionwu is not the only town affected by such grievous neglect. Moving a little bit away from Ndikelionwu down to Omogho axis, the entire stretch is in a terrible and horrible state of disrepair, while no one cares about it. It has deteriorated to the extent that it has posed a great danger to the people, as arm robbers have converted it as their save-heavens. It has become a den for them, where they constantly harass innocent Nigerians. Or are we talking of damages done to peoples vehicles as a result of the gully like potholes on the road? Something must be done, and done quickly too! It is very ironical and funny indeed to note that the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), in the area have also converted the axis to a checkpoint. Their thinking is that road users must be forced to either slow down or made to totally stop at the bad spots of the road, thereby giving them easy access to arrest and extort money from such unsuspecting road users. Something must be done, and done urgently for the interest of Nigerians who suffer untold hardships on the road.
Moving a little further also to Ufuma, Ajalli and beyond, even Oko and upwards to Ekwulobia axis are begging for the attention of the authorities concerned. The portion on the Ekwulobia erosion site has become a death trap also, as accidents occur there on regular basis. I think all the Local Government bosses (Orumba North & South and Aguata), the FRSC, the NPF, the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and by extension other major stakeholders involved should start putting on their thinking cap now. To me, I feel that is the right thing to do immediately, before the future generations of the people are no more. Here I rest my case, thanks and God bless!
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