Special Correspondent, OYE CHUKWUJEKWU, writes on the plight of Ugbolu, a neglected Delta State community, and efforts of the people to draw government’s attention to the people’s plight.
Ugbolu is a community very close to Asaba Capital Territory, Delta State. Endowed with green pastures, arable land and solid minerals, the community is blessed with age-long cultural heritage that portrays the migration of Olu, the son of Oba of Benin, so many years ago.
The community is known for its farming culture and boasts of a prosperous market where people from different communities within the River Niger coast come to buy and sell wares. It is equally located on a low, plane arable land.
The people are good in cultivation of cassava, yam, potatoes and vegetables, most of which are consumed mostly in Asaba. They have a culture that represents the system of governance in Igbo land which thrives on the use of council of elders presided over by Diokpa, the oldest man in the community.
Ugbolu, an autonomous community in Oshimili North Local Government Area, has Ogbueshi Christopher Amonu Okonkwo who hails from Umuadiagbo Quarters as Diokpa. He is said to be about 94 years.
Speaking to newsmen in his palace, Okonkwo decried the attitude of successive administrations in the state towards his community and his subjects, alleging that since the creation of the state and the community’s allocation of 245 hectares of land to the government, no compensation has been paid to the land-owners.
He also complained that no developmental project had been erected on the land, hence it has remained fallow.
The Diokpa also spoke on the importance of access road to the community which links it to the local council headquarters, Akwukwuigbo, and its Okpanam neighbours. The road, he added, has been dilapidated.
According to Okonkwo, if the road is constructed, it will enhance the agricultural activities of the community.
He further spoke on the poor infrastructure in the two government-owned primary schools and a secondary school in the community that are currently in a state of neglect.
Diokpa Okonkwo also complained of the market in the community which has not received attention from the government, noting that other communities around Ugbolu have had modern markets built for them by the state.
Stressing that the only primary health centre in the community is in bad shape and lacks facilities that will enhance adequate medical attention, the Diokpa further said his subjects undergo stress while accessing healthcare at the hospitals far away from their community.
But what, perhaps, pains Okonkwo the most is that the state government has not duly recognised the position of Diokpa as a paramount ruler of the community. He recalled that in the old Bendel State, his predecessors received salaries from the state government, adding that the gesture had been stopped.
He attributed this to the claim by neighbouring Okpanam which claims Ugbolu as a community under its jurisdiction.
Okonkwo put a lie to the claim, stressing that his community is populated with over 7,000 natives living in different parts of the country and beyond.
Chibuzo Obiokolo, his spokesman, also faulted the claim of Okpanam Kingdom against the Ugbolu, adding that several letters had been sent to the state government on the issue of granting Ugbolu autonomous status, without success.
The history of Ugbolu, he said, took off from the legendary Ezechima kindred, while the Okpanam were Igbo across the River Niger who migrated from Anam of Anambra East. By his account, a certain son of Ezechima whose name was Olu settled in his farmland in Ugbolu because his crops were doing well and thereafter settled in the area. He thus wondered how a migratory community that came to the place later would claim lordship over those that had settled in the community earlier.
According to him, during the 2015 elections, they voted massively for Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, given that they are all of Anioma sub-ethnic group and had been clamouring for a governor from Delta North Senatorial District.
The Diokpa also noted that government’s attention is needed in checking erosion menace that may sweep away their farmlands and homes, stressing that none of the several Okowa’s development programmes had been felt by his subjects.
The people, he remarked, do not even know much about the programmes and the agenda.He also frowned at different levies imposed on the people by agents of Oshimili North Local Government, even when these are not used to address the challenges facing the market in the community, especially on the issue of erosion.
Obiokolo further remarked that the menace of Fulani herdsmen has become the general problem threatening the people of South South and South East, adding however that his community has been spared the attack by the herders.
He commended the government for sending enough teachers to the schools in the community. Aside this gesture, the Diokpa noted that for the past one year, Ugbolu is yet to feel the impact of the Okowa administration, adding, however, that one year is not enough for assessment of the government.
“Because Deltans are aware that the nation is grappling with dwindling economy, we can’t say the governor had not done anything. We hope that one day he would extend development to Ugbolu people,” he said.
He appealed to the government to assist the community with good roads, stressing that the road leading to Akwukwuigbo, Okpanam, Isselle-Azagba and Illah are in bad shape.
Our reporter learnt that a section of the road had been awarded, but the contractors were not on site and had not done much to fix it.
