Umuoyeali Mbieri, a bustling community located in the outskirts of Owerri City, is among the nine autonomous communities in Mbieri ancient kingdom in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo state. It has experienced untold hardship due to the menace of erosion and flash floods that has threatened its very existence and interaction with other parts of the Owerri metropolis in Imo state. The people of the area for the last 10 years have suffered serious ecological challenges which have rendered the only accessible road, the Akwakuma-Mbieri-Hardel Road, into and outside the community impassable and deplorable. The Road has been cut into two at several points of its entire length, the foundations of many houses in the area are caving in and transportation by cars in Umuonyeali-Mbieri has become an impossibility. The residents of the area are in dire straits. They say that the Imo state Government have on several occasions made promises of fixing the bad road and embarking on land remediation works on the Akwakuma-Ogbosisi road all to no avail.
The President-General of Umuoyeali-Mbieri Community Mr Frank Ehuru lamented the unbearable conditions residents, house owners and road users currently live in, he espoused that this situation has stunted the growth of the community socio-economically due to the harsh topography caused by gullies. “We have been living like this for the past 10 years but since 2021 things became worse when indigenes of Umuonyeali-Ugo began to build houses, schools, shops and other structures or sold their lands to visitors who in turn develop such lands for commercial or housing purposes without approved building plans or adhering to extant planning laws as provided by the Owerri Capital Development Agency (OCDA).” “So this indiscriminate erection of structures including ‘batchers’ made the flooding and erosion worse,” he said. The PG added that they have made concerted efforts to reach out to the lawmaker representing Mbaitoli LGA at the State House of Assembly and other prominent Mbieri sons who occupy important positions in the administration of Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State in order to lobby the state government to give succour to the people of Umuoyeali community, all to no avail. “We have contacted Hon. Engr. Innocent Ikpamezie who is our Rep Member in the House; the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Lady Chinyere Ekomaru, the Late President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Late Engr. Emmanuel Iwunayanwu stayed not too far from here, Charlvon Amadi is also from Mbieri nation. Are these personalities not eminent enough to help salvage the situation and lobby on our behalf? Why is the government turning a blind eye to the community that yields revenue to them through the Timber Market here? It is simply not fair at all?” Mr Ehuru bitterly complained.
Taking a tour on a bike along the Umuonyeali-Mbieri road which begins from the popular Akwakuma Junction, it was observed that the only mode of transportation into Umuoyeali Mbieri community is by motor bikes popularly called ‘Okada.’ This has led to the influx of bikers from the Northern and middle belt states like Benue, Niger, Nassarawa, Kogi and Plateau into the community which according to residents have become a security issue. It was observed that from Akwakuma junction to Umuonyeali Timber Market popularly called “Ogbosisi” which is a short distance of about 3 kms, there are about 5 deep gullies all at varying degrees of depths. “When it rains, we have to turn round into the villages and it usually takes longer to navigate. When you ask your passenger to pay N1000, they complain and cannot pay,” says Kennedy, a commercial motor cycle rider. During the dry season we charge N400 to L.A junction, Ogbosisi junction and other areas close to this Akwakuma junction but when the rains come and the road becomes worse we charge N1000 to N2000.” If not for the patching we carry out on the road from time to time, you wouldn’t have seen this road in this manageable state to ply this Christmas season.” “We pour sand and stones in many parts of this road so that we can drive through. Many accidents and a few deaths have been recorded on this road. Even our bikes develop faults from time to time,” Kennedy says. Adding in vernacular he said; “We no get choice o, na where we dey feed our families from.”
An Environmental Geomorphologist with the Federal University of Technology, FUTO, Mr Clifford Nwosu gave his thoughts on the gradual collapse of the area. “The houses are sinking sir. Check the houses as you walk through the road, you will find out that the window levels are very close to the ground and it goes closer and closer at different levels in different buildings,” the scientist says. “This shift may not happen immediately, it happens slowly and steadily, calculated in geologic time, usually deceiving the unobservant person about the drastic changes occurring within. The geomorphology of this area is sloppy and undulating, leading to the Nwaorie River, so what do you expect? Again, you ask yourself, what is the soil particulate in this area? This will give builders an insight into where to build what but these technicalities aren’t followed anymore. Everyone just wants to be a proud house owner! Unfortunately, we will wake up one morning and find out that Umuonyeali Mbieri has collapsed before our very eyes. We can see it with the roads but like in the biblical days of Noah we are not heeding to the D-day! The Government needs to wake up to its responsibility,” Mr Nwosu averred. Suggesting ways to remedy the situation, the academic said; “First of all the road needs to be fixed with drainage with enough depth and width that can carry running water. This is the only way in which water and its debris can be channelled out. Ok, go to Amakaohia flyover as if you are turning to New Road, along Egbeada, look at the drainage there, that drainage has stayed for years since it was constructed during the Udenwa administration. That’s what should be done for Umuonyeali Mbieri road.
For the Youth Leader of the community Comr. Ebere Metumebaire, the situation is a dismal one. “Why should we not complain, the Governor has ecological funds accrued to the state, the state ministry of works are not working,” he says. “The industrial market here rakes in millions of naira every blessed day. If you see the trucks that ply this road, from morning till night using the Umuodu road axis that is fairly manageable, Dangote, BUA and other private contractors, you will marvel. They have even spoiled that part of the road now. So, why is the government not paying attention to solving this ecological problem? The youth leader asked. “This road makes a lot of money for the government. This community is a revenue making machine for the government but it is sinking. Successive governments have made it so, due to their habitual abandonment. But the project is too big for us to handle ourselves.” Continuing he said; “What is even more painful is that this road is a very important road that connects one part of Owerri to the other. Imagine this road begins from Akwakuma in Owerri North Local Government Area and goes all the way to Hardel Junction which is another part of Owerri city. In between, you can connect the nine autonomous communities that make up Mbieri which is the largest town in the whole of Imo state. Yes, Mbieri is that big. Mbaitoli LGA is a giant of a local Government and Mbieri Town made it so. If Umuonyeali Mbieri with this interconnecting road and a very huge market that we have here were to be in Anambra State I bet you, this ecological issue we face would have been a thing of the past.” Metumebaire concluded.
Reacting to the situation of the ecological problem faced by the community, the Imo state Government has stated that the Umuoyeali-Mbieri is the next in the list of priority areas to be looked into. The state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Barr. Ralph Nwosu, gave this assurance in an interview by this reporter when quizzed on the seeming abandonment of the area despite its importance in the scheme of things. He disclosed that at the moment there were too many roads and environmental projects begging for attention around the state. “It is as if you were in the Executive chambers of the Government House listening to us because we mentioned the situation of Umuonyeali-Mbieri in our just concluded State Executive Council meeting. As you know, the Control Flyover and component roads are on-going, By 2025 it will be completed and it will give a huge relief to those coming in and out of Owerri. It is a signature project of the Governor. We have also started work on the Orlu-Mgbee-Akokwa road in Orlu Zone, we are also working in Okigwe zone too to ensure that the three senatorial zones are ably represented now that we have flagged off the construction season in the state.” “As for the road you asked, it will surprise you to know that the contract for the Umuonyeali-Mbieri road was awarded in previous administrations and nothing was ever done. Who will pursue them? But the Governor has said one at a time and by next year something will be done about this,” the commissioner assured.
Ordinarily the leadership and residents of Umuonyeali-Ugo community would have been motivated by this message of assurance by the state government but for the remembrance of similar promises by previous governments they remain cautious. Despite this pessimism that has greeted the latest promise by the Imo state government to fix the road and dilapidated ground structure of the area, the people of Umuonyeali Mbieri will go into 2025 with a renewed expectation that it will be ‘third time lucky for them,’ that the government would finally walk the talk.
