Hitherto, Onitsha and its environs were very dirty. Many parts of the cities and even rural areas were filled with dirt and mountainous refuse. Even some refuse dumps were overgrown with wastes and rodents, making vehicular and even human movements very difficult. The environmental decay in Okpoko, Anambra’s largest urban slum, was huge and posed existential threats to the inhabitants.

Thus, even before he assumed office, Governor Chukwuma Soludo saw it as a very big challenge which could be confronted with every radical measure it deserved. The governor reasoned that the place could still be revamped and made livable. And one of the first things he did was to think direct to Okpoko, where he steered the world to a desirable upgrading of the area. Typically, he fired on all cylinders and the world has taking note.

True, hope is akin to the oxygen we need to live. So, on March 18, 2022, a day after being sworn in, Professor Soludo alongside his deputy, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, took a facility tour of Okpoko. He rekindled the hope of Ndi Okpoko that a better life was still possible in the sprawling urban slum settlement.

Notwithstanding their gloomy and grim conditions brought about by all manner of denudation, the men, women, boys and girls of Okpoko came out in large numbers showering praises on the governor for keeping his words. Yes, Soludo came to have a feel of their situations, but more importantly, he came to wipe away their tears, which he has done few days after.

He would have gone straight to the reception ground to address the people. But instead, he chose to get to the heart of the slum to feel the offensive air, to see the hitherto uncleared refuse that constituted health hazards; to monitor firsthand the squalid conditions under which the residents lived without amenities such as electricity, hospitals, accessible roads etcetera, and to feel the battles they encountered daily with mosquitoes in addition to the associated disease burdens.

Today, the deed is done; the mountainous refuse dumps have been cleared, the blocked roads have been reopened while drainages have been desilted, thanks to Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration. Okpoko has tasked the new government’s commitment to lifting the poor and vulnerable from the stranglehold of poverty, diseases, penury and squalor.

Many were looking forward to when Okpoko would become part of the livable and prosperous smart Anambra megacity project. Today, it is. The good news is that the government has turned things around for good for the residents. Soludo has ameliorated this social cause. Even opposition politicians, such as Senator Stella Odua, having seen the wisdom and resolve of the government, are cheering the Soludo Solution in the area.

The truth remains that the upgrading of Okpoko and its environs was not a tea party, especially with the lean resources available to government. It is our fervent hope that the Federal Government and international community would support and assuage the Anambra State government in this noble cause.

Investigations have revealed that the surge in the population of the slum is attributable to the massive settlement of displaced families due to the insurgencies in the northern parts of Nigeria.

Again, as the Federal Government is distributing palliatives and other amenities to insurgency affected settlements elsewhere, it should also remember Anambra.

Ndi Anambra are emboldened that Okpoko and its environs have been revamped following the assurance from Soludo that he would not celebrate until he brought smiles to the faces of Okpoko people. Today, he has.

Henceforth, residents Of Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Ogbaru, Idemili North and indeed Ndi Anambra in general should see waste evacuation and drainage desilting as daily exercise. Shop owners, households, especially our women should teach their children and wards on proper ways of disposing wastes. Let’s stop disposing our wastes in drainages and in unauthorized places.

Our families can play dominant role in ensuring clean and tidy environment, especially now that we have a government that cares about us and our environment.

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