By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Reactions have continued to trail the ongoing enforcement of physical planning regulations in Nnewi, Anambra State, as the State Government moves ahead with the demolition of illegal structures, shanties and other developments identified for removal under its urban renewal plan for the automobile city.
Championed by the Anambra State Ministry of Physical Planning, the demolition exercise, the videos of which are currently trending on social media, was preceded by marking and serving of demolition notices and reminders to the owners of the affected properties and structures, numbering over 500.
This was, however, not without the usual reactions and counter-reactions from netizens most of whom share their thoughts on the exercise.
Among the hundreds of other marked property, particular attention has been drawn to a former filling station reportedly belonging to the late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, a strong opposition figure and the then candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) who squared up against the incumbent Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the 2021 governorship election in the state.
This was corroborated by social media comments and reactions from netizens to the video of the defunct Capital Oil Filling Station marked for demolition. The video also shows some workers dismantling the roof of the filling station and other structures within the premises for evaluation.
These reactions notwithstanding, it was gathered that the planned removal of the structure is coming as part of a much larger exercise that had been announced by the Anambra State Government months earlier, and is not limited to properties associated with the late senator or anyone else.
Hundreds of other marked structures and illegal shanties have already been crushed to rubble in different parts of the city, while several others are still going down on a daily basis in continuation of the exercise, given the expiration of the grace period given to the owners to vacate.
Speaking on the proposed demolition earlier in June, the State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Barr. Chijioke Oseloka Ojukwu, had announced that more than 500 owners of illegally constructed structures in Nnewi had been served demolition notices and given a two-week ultimatum to comply before government enforcement and demolition would commence. Although the demolition never started two weeks after, in order to give the affected people enough time to vacate, until recently when the enforcement kicked off in full force.
The Commissioner, at the time, explained that the affected properties were not limited to ordinary roadside shanties, but included dilapidated buildings, unapproved developments, filling stations, hotels and other structures considered to be encroaching on public right-of-way or posing environmental and safety concerns.
The government had also identified several strategic locations for the exercise, including the Nnewi Triangle axis, Hundred Foot Road, Post Office area, Anaedo Road, Igwe Orizu Road, Ezemewi Road and the Nkwo axis, as well as sections of the Nnewi-Owerri Road right-of-way and other major Trunk A roads in Otolo, Umudim and Uruagu.
According to Ojukwu, the enforcement represents the first phase of a broader regeneration programme designed not merely to pull down structures, but to restore order, address infrastructure deficits and reposition Nnewi as a modern industrial and commercial city.
The programme, he explained, is also expected to address structures obstructing the right-of-way of the newly dualised Nnewi-Owerri Road and other areas earmarked for redevelopment.
It was further gathered that a major component of the government’s plan is the proposed revival and completion of the long-abandoned Nnewi Triangle Mall, alongside the development of modern bus terminals, recreational centres and other public infrastructure intended to improve economic activity and movement within the city.
Recall that the Soludo Administration had launched and is currently executing the ongoing Nwagu Agulu–Nnobi–Nnewi road dualization, which is an ongoing 18.6-kilometer infrastructure project commissioned by the Governor to improve connectivity, ease traffic congestion, and link major urban centers in the state. The project’s scope comprises the dualization of the 18.6 km stretch from Nwagu Agulu through Adazi Nnukwu—Neni—Oraukwu—Nnokwa—Nnobi to Nnewi town (under Lot 1), and the dualization of the 16.5 Nnewi—Ozubulu—Okija Road (under Lot 2).
The government has consequently presented the ongoing demolition exercise as part of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s broader urban renewal agenda for Nnewi.
