Written By: Ejike Anyaduba
Like every other town in Anambra state and elsewhere, Nteje, the headquarters of Oyi Local Government Area, was also affected by the COVID-19 lockdown order of the state. The hardship occasioned by the stay-at-home order made living difficult for most of the folks.
Conscious of the effect of the lockdown on the people, the Obiano administration promptly made arrangements to ease the hardship through palliatives. Food items like rice, beans and condiments were issued out to the 181 communities in the state to ameliorate the condition. The palliatives were shared in tranches. The aged were the first to be reached with two hundred bags of rice and condiments. Thereafter, the youths took delivery of four hundred bags per community.
Though a far reaching exercise, in the end not everybody was accommodated. Hunger and other forms of denials strain the limit of people’s patience, pushing a good number into begging for sustenance. Few public-spirited individuals saw the need to make interventions to shore up the lack.
Among those who did was Igwe Rowland Odegbo, Aborgu the second na Nteje, the traditional ruler of Nteje community. He felt the vicarious pains of those involved and made corresponding intervention. He ordered three hundred and fifty bags of Uncle Stan brand of rice to be shared in all the wards in Nteje.
Stakeholders were asked to avail the committee empanelled to distribute the palliatives with twenty names, in some places ten, of vulnerable persons from each of the minor wards in Nteje. Twenty bags were given to members of the vigilante services. The distribution was in line with the protocols used in the sharing of the ones by the government. The only difference was that while the previous palliatives had target audience (the aged and the youth), the one by the Igwe cut across age. But all had one thing in common – the beneficiaries were all economically vulnerable as a result of the lockdown.
A lot of people have since expressed surprise at the magnanimity of Igwe Odegbo. How thoughtful his actions are. But many more who were privy to his many good works, especially in the area of attracting development to Nteje community were not surprised. Rather, they pray for him to live long enough to do more.
Echoing the sentiment, the President-General of Nteje Development Union, Chief Beneth Chinweze, said he was at once surprised and confident of the Igwe’s action. Surprised because he said he had lived long enough to witness successions to the igweship throne in Nteje and could not recall similar gesture. Confident because he was privy to some of the infrastructural development attracted to Nteje by Igwe Odegbo by leveraging on his position as a former chairman of Anambra North Traditional Rulers Council and his good relationship with the state government.
Chief Chinweze told of the many developments attracted to the community by Igwe Odegbo through his contacts. He listed the projects as the Aka Amanato-Nsugbe road; Eke Igwe–Nando road; Eziudo-Umunya-Umudioka road, among many others.
Of the three, Eziudo-Umunya-Umudioka road is completed. The other two are ongoing. However the story of the Umudioka-Umunya-Nteje road is slightly different. According to Chinweze, the road was awarded by the previous government and its construction started from the Umudioka end. By the time Governor Obiano came to office, work had progressed up to Umunya but did not cross to the Nteje stretch with its improvised bridge. It took persuasions and pleas from the Igwe for the Governor to direct effort towards its completion with the Nengo Bridge firmly fixed.
It is believed that Nteje is now on the fast lane of development and will not return to trudging on the road through acts of divisive politics. The youths, women, men, Ndi Nteje and friends of Nteje Aborgu should rally round their traditional ruler and support the development initiatives in the community. Communities thrive better in an atmosphere of peace and harmony.
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