By Harry Awurumibe, in Owerri
In Imo state especially, Owerri, the once Cleanest City in Nigeria, rubbish and chaos have taken over the streets as the residents struggle for rights of way with vehicles and rubbish heaps left
in the middle of the major streets.
Presently, the popular Douglas road, from Ama JK through Ama Hausa by West End; Mbaise road via Tetlow road; Wethdral road; Egbu road and Orji Hardel road have been taken over by mountains of rubbish littered on the streets.
Prompt News reports that the monthly sanitation for February 2022 which was carried on Saturday, February 26, 2022 has worsened the filthy environment of Owerri as heaps of rubbish were thrown onto the major streets.
A drive round the metropolis and adjoining towns of Owerri West Local Government Area on Saturday showed that Owerri has become the “Filthy Capital of Nigeria”.
Throughout the Saturday’s sanitation period lasting from 7 am to 10 am in Imo state, there was no sign of the Imo State Waste Management Agency (ISWAMA) in the major streets to clear the rubbish from business premises and homes littered on the streets.
All efforts to speak to the officials of ISWAMA proved abortive as none of them were available on the streets to monitor what was going on in the city.
Meanwhile, most of the streets in all part of the Owerri metropolis have been converted into markets with traders displaying wares right in the middle of the roads.
Worst hit are the ever busy Douglas road stretching to Emmanuel College/Aba road and Mbaise road, two dual carriageways in the city which have been taken over by traders to display their goods.
Also converted into markets are Tetlow road, Onumonu street, Njiribeako street and Uratta road among other roads and streets in the metropolis.m
A house owner Lolo Fidelia Ngozi Njoku said almost every major streets in Owerri became markets since the former Governor Ethelbert Rochas Okorocha demolished all the major markets in Owerri including the popular Eke Ukwu Owerri Nichi Ise and Owerri New Market respectively.
“The conversion of major roads and streets have become a new normal since ex-Governor Rochas Okorocha displaced many traders from Eke Ukwu and the New Market too. So for more than six years now, Owerri has not been the same”, she lamented.
Chief Basil Nwadike, another landlord said the chaos in Owerri will continue until the government addresses the plight of traders by relocating them to another place, adding that until solution is found traders will continue to occupy Douglas road and others too.
Attempts to speak to Imo state government officials at the weekend failed to yield any result as it was discovered that top government officials were not available because of the Federal House of Representatives Bye-election which held on Saturday, February 26, 2022 in Aboh-Mbaise/ Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency.
