Dredging the Aba River, by Godwin Adindu
From the old, cranky bridge
overlooking the Aba
waterside, the crowd of
bystanders stood to watch the new cinema.
There used to
be the old REX and EMI Cinema
in this town where the senior
boys of old stole out of bed
and scale over the barbed
wire fences of their dormitories at night to watch
the escapades of the Chinese
macho man, Bruce Lee, the
American version of Rambo.
That was the Aba of old, the
paradise lost.
Today, there is no more Rex,
no more Emi and no more
Bruce Lee.
Abia Governor and his family
But, there is a new
fancy that has caught the
attention of the Aba people
this early morning and they are looking with consumed
absentmindednes s, oblivious of the risk of the speeding
trucks behind them.
The new
cinema is the combusting
dredger crawling in the Aba
river, excavating the waters
and evacuating the accumulated debris that have
caused the water to meander
away from its concave shores.
The bystanders are looking
with curiosity because a
dredger in the Aba River is a novelty.
There is no memory,
as much as they can flashback,
of a dredger in Aba or of a
dredging work in Aba River.
So they must be part of this
drama! The scenario, in symbolic
terms, goes to signal the Aba
Urban Renewal Drive,
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu's
driving force under which he
is reviewing the truncated dream that is Aba city.
Recently, he deployed the
dredger to the Aba water as
part of effort to recover an
endangered water line.
The
sedimentation of debris below the water bed is partly the
cause of the Aba flood and the
environmental decay.
If there
had been constant dredging in
the past, the river would
accommodate more storm water from the drainages and
the entire network of
drainages in the city will flow
freely.
Cutting through the thick
forest of Okpu Umuobo in Osisioma local council, the Aba
River snakes its way through
the city to Ukwa and empties
into the Opopo River.
In the
hey days of Aba's fame, the
river provided water as raw material to the manufacturing
companies which were
strategically located along its
banks and also accommodated
sewage.
Old students of the
many old schools of Aba savour sweet memories of
their swimming spree in the
waterside.
Courtyard
swimming pools were not
common currency in those
days so Aba boys and girls got their first swimming
encounter here and mastered
the symphony of the ebbs
and tides. Thus, the Aba
waterside remains another
source of nostalgia for old Aba people.
Indeed, the Aba waterside is
what the lagoon is to Lagos.
It
defines its landscape and its
topography and projects its
environmental beauty.
If you point at the heavy capacity
ships that hang onshore
waiting for the right to berth
from the authorities of the
ports of Apapa, Aba people
would point at the wooden canoes paddled by the swamp
dwellers of the waterlines.
Apart from the sea breeze
generated by the cascading
waves of the Atlantic, there is
nothing that the Lagos water offer that Aba waterside is
not capable of offering Aba
people.
Abia can create her
own beaches like Lagos.
It
could create a tourism delight
out of the waterside.
Governor Ikpeazu is looking
in this direction. In the effort
to create a new city, using
local content and harnessing
the latent ingenuity of the
Aba people, the Aba River must be a key element in the
mapping of a new landscape
and designing of a new
environmental order.
If the
Aba River is well guarded, it
could provide potentials for marine transport.
With the
process of urbanization
catching up with yesterday's
rural communities like Ovom,
Akpa and the communities
along the Aba Opobo road, a marine transport system is all
what the natives need to
access the city.
Same with the
communities along the
Osisioma stretch of land.
Mini
commuter boats with final embarkation point at the
waterside could serve this
purpose.
This will ease the
traffic along the Orgbor hill
axis and on the Aba Owerri
Road.
Governor Ikpeazu is prepared
for the task at hand.
The
dredging of the waterside is
the first step in a large and
broad vision that encapsulates
a marine culture that will add value to life, create a new
symphony of drama of city
life, re-engineer the economy
and bring Aba back to its
pride of place as the hub of
commerce and trade.
This is being driven in unison with
the construction of new roads
and maintenance of the old
ones and the general
infrastructural renewal of the city.
Before the arrival of the
dredger, the desilting of
drainages, gutters, storm
water systems and flood
channels has been going on in earnest.
It has been an
amazing discovery to see
many drainages of more than
thirty feet deep, built by the
colonial administration with
the original plan of the city covered up by residents over
the years, some with solid
structures built over them.
The dream is big; the will must
be strong.
This morning, the Aba people saw the tenacity of the will in
the combusting dredger
crawling in the water like a
dancing duck.
It provided a
good sight, in the absence of
Emi and Rex. But, much more than that, it heralded the
town crier's voice:
a Daniel has
come to judgment!
Adindu is the Chief Press
Secretary to Abia Governor.
overlooking the Aba
waterside, the crowd of
bystanders stood to watch the new cinema.
There used to
be the old REX and EMI Cinema
in this town where the senior
boys of old stole out of bed
and scale over the barbed
wire fences of their dormitories at night to watch
the escapades of the Chinese
macho man, Bruce Lee, the
American version of Rambo.
That was the Aba of old, the
paradise lost.
Today, there is no more Rex,
no more Emi and no more
Bruce Lee.
Abia Governor and his family
But, there is a new
fancy that has caught the
attention of the Aba people
this early morning and they are looking with consumed
absentmindednes s, oblivious of the risk of the speeding
trucks behind them.
The new
cinema is the combusting
dredger crawling in the Aba
river, excavating the waters
and evacuating the accumulated debris that have
caused the water to meander
away from its concave shores.
The bystanders are looking
with curiosity because a
dredger in the Aba River is a novelty.
There is no memory,
as much as they can flashback,
of a dredger in Aba or of a
dredging work in Aba River.
So they must be part of this
drama! The scenario, in symbolic
terms, goes to signal the Aba
Urban Renewal Drive,
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu's
driving force under which he
is reviewing the truncated dream that is Aba city.
Recently, he deployed the
dredger to the Aba water as
part of effort to recover an
endangered water line.
The
sedimentation of debris below the water bed is partly the
cause of the Aba flood and the
environmental decay.
If there
had been constant dredging in
the past, the river would
accommodate more storm water from the drainages and
the entire network of
drainages in the city will flow
freely.
Cutting through the thick
forest of Okpu Umuobo in Osisioma local council, the Aba
River snakes its way through
the city to Ukwa and empties
into the Opopo River.
In the
hey days of Aba's fame, the
river provided water as raw material to the manufacturing
companies which were
strategically located along its
banks and also accommodated
sewage.
Old students of the
many old schools of Aba savour sweet memories of
their swimming spree in the
waterside.
Courtyard
swimming pools were not
common currency in those
days so Aba boys and girls got their first swimming
encounter here and mastered
the symphony of the ebbs
and tides. Thus, the Aba
waterside remains another
source of nostalgia for old Aba people.
Indeed, the Aba waterside is
what the lagoon is to Lagos.
It
defines its landscape and its
topography and projects its
environmental beauty.
If you point at the heavy capacity
ships that hang onshore
waiting for the right to berth
from the authorities of the
ports of Apapa, Aba people
would point at the wooden canoes paddled by the swamp
dwellers of the waterlines.
Apart from the sea breeze
generated by the cascading
waves of the Atlantic, there is
nothing that the Lagos water offer that Aba waterside is
not capable of offering Aba
people.
Abia can create her
own beaches like Lagos.
It
could create a tourism delight
out of the waterside.
Governor Ikpeazu is looking
in this direction. In the effort
to create a new city, using
local content and harnessing
the latent ingenuity of the
Aba people, the Aba River must be a key element in the
mapping of a new landscape
and designing of a new
environmental order.
If the
Aba River is well guarded, it
could provide potentials for marine transport.
With the
process of urbanization
catching up with yesterday's
rural communities like Ovom,
Akpa and the communities
along the Aba Opobo road, a marine transport system is all
what the natives need to
access the city.
Same with the
communities along the
Osisioma stretch of land.
Mini
commuter boats with final embarkation point at the
waterside could serve this
purpose.
This will ease the
traffic along the Orgbor hill
axis and on the Aba Owerri
Road.
Governor Ikpeazu is prepared
for the task at hand.
The
dredging of the waterside is
the first step in a large and
broad vision that encapsulates
a marine culture that will add value to life, create a new
symphony of drama of city
life, re-engineer the economy
and bring Aba back to its
pride of place as the hub of
commerce and trade.
This is being driven in unison with
the construction of new roads
and maintenance of the old
ones and the general
infrastructural renewal of the city.
Before the arrival of the
dredger, the desilting of
drainages, gutters, storm
water systems and flood
channels has been going on in earnest.
It has been an
amazing discovery to see
many drainages of more than
thirty feet deep, built by the
colonial administration with
the original plan of the city covered up by residents over
the years, some with solid
structures built over them.
The dream is big; the will must
be strong.
This morning, the Aba people saw the tenacity of the will in
the combusting dredger
crawling in the water like a
dancing duck.
It provided a
good sight, in the absence of
Emi and Rex. But, much more than that, it heralded the
town crier's voice:
a Daniel has
come to judgment!
Adindu is the Chief Press
Secretary to Abia Governor.
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