Ikeduru: The forgotten LGC in Imo State
By Luke Onyekakeyah
FOR all intents and purposes, Ikeduru Local
Government Council (LGC) is a forgotten
enclave in Imo State. There is nothing to
write home about Ikeduru, which has
common boundary with Owerri the capital
of Imo State to the north. Some of the towns
that make up Ikeduru include, Amakohia,
Atta, Akaboh, Uzoagba, Avuvu, Okwu,
Amaimo, among others. With a population
of about 149,316 and an area of 179 km2,
as things are now, Ikeduru people are just
in the catalogue of Imo people. They have
gained nothing from both the military and
civilian governments that ruled the state.
The neglect of Ikeduru has placed its people
perpetually in crushing poverty because
without access roads, nothing good comes
to the people.
Ordinarily, the proximity of Ikeduru to
Owerri ought to have given it edge and
access to development. But this is far from
being the case. Instead, Ikeduru is
neglected, abandoned and appears not to
feature in any development programme of
the Imo State Government. The state of
affairs in Ikeduru is lamentable. Something
needs to be done to give the people a sense
of belonging in the state. Imagine a people
paying tax from year to year and yet nothing
comes from the government to make life
worth living. Instead, the people are
subjected to sub-standard living condition
since the end of the civil war.
Ikeduru has produced prominent sons and
daughters that have passed through the
corridors of power. For example, the late
Senator Evan Enwerem who was a Governor
of Imo State in the early 90s was from
Ikeduru. Unfortunately, his short-lived
administration obviously robbed Ikeduru
the opportunity to see change. But even at
that, not much may have been expected
because there seems to be an unwritten
decision at Owerri not to extend
development to Ikeduru. Consequently,
whatever the people have came through
self-help.
As things are, can Ikeduru people be proud
to say they belong to Imo State? The
deplorable state of roads and other social
service infrastructures in the area buttress
this concern. Ikeduru LGC has no single
tarred road. The asphalted road that passed
through Iho, (Ikeduru Council
Headquarters), was an accident. That road
was meant for the Mbaitoli side of the Local
Government when Mbaitoli/Ikeduru was still
one LGC. Throughout the length and breath
of Ikeduru, what you have are badly
weathered roads, gullies and sand dunes
that have accumulated on roads over the
decades.
Because Ikeduru had been completely
forgotten by the successive governments in
Imo State, some roads and wooden bridges
that were accessible, motorable in the 60s
have completely broken down and closed.
Some community hospitals, clinics,
dispensaries and the like that were
functional in the 60s have all closed down. I
was shocked to see that the former
Amakohia Girls Secondary School that used
to have white expatriate teachers in its staff
has been overtaken by forest! The state of
underdevelopment in Ikeduru is most
alarming.
The Christmas and New Year holidays
provided me with opportunity to move
round some towns and villages in Ikeduru
to inadvertently see things first hand. It
wasn’t that I was out looking for
development in Ikeduru but I was shocked
in the course of my casual trip that even at
the peak of the dry season, it was
impossible to go through some roads that
were accessible when I was in secondary
school in mid-70s. With bicycle then, I could
ride across to the neighboring towns to
school via the link roads that were then
motorable. Today those roads are
completely inaccessible.
This is happening at a time when Ikeduru
LGC was carved out from the former
Mbaitoli/Ikeduru apparently “to bring
development to the grassroots”. But in truth,
no development has been recorded. Rather,
Ikeduru has been trashed and forgotten.
Throughout Ikeduru, there is no tarred
road. The only asphalted road that was done
by the Mbakwe administration some 30
years ago linking Afor-Oru in Ahiazu LGC
through Obohia to Ugirike, Amaimo to Atta
has been completely washed away. The road
is an eyesore. After more than three decades
since that road was constructed without
any touch of rehabilitation, the condition is
worse than if it had not been asphalted in
the first place. You now begin to ask why
for three decades that only access and
critical road has never been maintained?
Why have the Imo State Government and
Ikeduru LGC not seen any need to repair that
road? What has happened to the rural
development philosophy that formed the
thrust of the Mbakwe administration? It was
such focus on rural infrastructures that
opened up many access roads in different
parts of Imo State. The rural development
focus brought industries such as the
Aluminum Extrusion Plant at Inyishi, Imo
Modern Poultry at Avutu Obowo, Amaraku
Power Plant, among others. Sadly enough,
these projects that were built by a patriotic
leader of the state have been effectively
been robbed of Imo people by selfish
successive administrations in the state. That
generation of roads built by the Mbakwe
administration has been rendered
impassable through lack of maintenance.
I was dumbfounded with what I saw on my
way to Afor Okwu Ikeduru. From Afor Owu-
Amakohia, I made my way through Eke
Onumiri and found the road badly
degraded. A section of the road in front of
what used to be Amakohia Girls Secondary
School has been overtaken by massive sand
dunes accumulated through gully erosion.
Obviously, during the rainy season, the road
would be impassable. Even in the dry
season, few vehicles managed to make it
through the road. Many get stuck in the long
stretch of sands. In the 60s when the road
was maintained by the Peoples Work
Department (PWD) from Ikeduru County
Council, there was no sand dune and
vehicles moved freely.
On one side of the road is a stretch of forest
at the site of what used to be Amakohia
Girls Secondary School. It was a shock to me.
Except one is familiar with the place, one
would never conjecture that a secondary
school ever existed there. The fortunes of
the school turned for the worse when the
State Government downgraded it to a Junior
Secondary School, apparently because of
bad road that made it inaccessible.
Consequently, teachers refused posting to
the school. Within the same perimeter was
what used to be Ekeonumiri Market that
ranked with Afor Ogbe in Ahiazu LGC as a
popular cow market. The market has
disappeared and the cow merchandise
gone to the annals of history.
Opposite the market are the relics of what
used to be a dispensary. The dispensary
functioned in the 60s and early 70s and
provided a ready source of Medicare for
Amakohia and the neighbouring
communities. But today, rather than being
upgraded to a health centre or hospital or
left to remain as dispensary for that
purpose, the whole facility has disappeared
leaving the community with nothing. Today,
it could be seen that within one perimeter
of what used to be a busy Ekeonumiri
centre of activity with school, market and
dispensary, nothing exists anymore because
of bad road. The market, school and
dispensary have all disappeared. You now
ask: Are we moving forward or backward?
If the basic social amenities that functioned
in the 60s and early 70s could be left to
disappear in today’s Nigeria, what does that
say about governance in the country?
From Ekeonumiri, I climbed the age-long
badly eroded Nkwo Amakohia road and
branched off to Okwu. From that point, it
was hell on earth driving through one of the
worst rural roads in Nigeria. In the 60s, as
children, when going to Afor Okwu, we
used to pass through the shorter alternative
Onuoma-Okwu Bridge. That road was then
passable and motorable because road
makers from the PWD maintained it
regularly. Though the bridge was wooden,
lorries carrying planks, palm oil and other
agricultural produce used to pass through it.
Today, 50 years after independence, the
Onuoma Okwu Bridge has completely
collapsed and the road abandoned and no
longer in use. The Okwu Community Hospital
at Afor Okwu has closed down because of
bad road.
On the Avuvu axis, the road linking the two
autonomous communities in Avuvu is
impassable. The connecting bridge at
Onungara has collapsed. The deplorable
condition of the road has impacted
negatively on the Avuvu Secondary Technical
School, which no longer attracts students
from the neighbouring communities
because of bad road and inaccessibility.
What is happening in Ikeduru is a showcase
of misgovernance in Imo State and Nigeria
as a whole. At this juncture, I wish to call on
the Imo State Government to do something
about the deplorable condition of roads and
social amenities in Ikeduru. The Imo Rural
Roads Management Agency of the Ohakim
Administration (IRROMA) should turn to
Ikeduru and do something there. At the
same time, the Ikeduru LGC should not
remain passive while its jurisdiction
languishes in want. The LGC should play a
leading role in creating motorable access
roads in Ikeduru.