Your Excellency
Autor: Damian Chidiebere Dike | Publicado: 2016-09-05T10:43:00-07:00


Your Excellency, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Governor Ezenwo Nyeso Wike,  I thank you so much for the road project you embarked upon in Rivers State, most especially, the one in Gambia Street, in Mile II Diobu area of Port-Harcourt, as that project affected me positively.
 
Diobu area and D-line use to be among the prestigious areas of Port-Harcourt town. In the early 90s, there use to be regular flow of portable Pipe-born water in Port-Harcourt Township and Diobu axis of Port-Harcourt, which were among the three planned areas of Port-Harcourt Local Government Area, which also included old GRA.
 
When there was shortage of Portable pipe-born water supply in Diobu axis of Port-Harcourt, we usually carry Jerri cans to Gambia Street to get portable pipe-born water for our daily use. It was only after the year 2014, after the burnt down of Port-Harcourt power station which caused low power supply that traders and residents of Gambia Street began buying power supply generators for their homes and businesses.
 
At the extreme of Gambia Street was an adjacent street called "Aynama", which connected Gambia Street to the popular Ikoku Street that was parallel to Gambia Street on the left and Okija Street was parallel to Gambia on the right. These two streets were famous for their business activities in all kinds of motor spare parts and industrial electrical equipment respectively. And then, with time the road on Ayama Street that linked Gambia to Ikoku and Okija was flooded which caused it to get spoilt. Grasses sprang up here and there on the road and due to neglect; it covered the whole of Anyama Street. The houses began to collapse as repairs were not done on them due to loss in their value. And the mechanics took over the empty plots of land in Gambia and Anyama streets.
 
The situation remained that way since the early 90s, and the only road into Gambia Street was the entrance through Ikwerre Road, and the problem with that was that there was a mosque on the out-sketch of that entrance. And so, on Fridays, for about two hours or thereabout, the road was usually taken over by the Muslim faithful who had gone to the mosque to pray. And so every Fridays, at about 1:00pm until 2:30pm, the entrance at Gambia was usually blocked to vehicles until the prayer was over.
 
As a result of the bad roads which resulted in loss of value of the houses there, shanties sprang up in and around Gambia Street. The Muslim merchants and their petty trader set up their quarters close to their mosque, while the none-Muslims set up theirs towards the extreme of Gambia. The implication of all of these was that as people, especially those with low educational background and low income resided there, crime rate increased the in the neighborhood. Some visitors who went to the neighborhood to repair their cars in Gambia Street had their jewelries or their wallets snatched from their pockets or their necks. People seeking for houses to rent had refused to move into the empty houses in Gambia Street and Anyama because of the violence. And to worsen the matter, when those who were residents there finished eating food from their take-away packs, they dump the packs into the gutter and the garbage flow down to the extreme of Gambia Street. And if the wastes were able to scale through the hurdles in the gutter, they end up in the Nta-nwaogba bridge, which is one of the causes of blocked of drainages in Port-Harcourt City today.
 
To curtail the violence in Gambia Street, on few occasion, the police. Had driven into the street of Gambia to restore order as shooting between the factions were carried out by the youths there in broad daylight, which sometimes resulted in the locking of shops in Okija and Ikoku Streets. The hoodlums usually sight the arrival of the police van from a distance because there was only one entrance, and the hoodlums make their escape through the narrow tracks in the ghetto. The police had placed a container at the extreme of Gambia Street, intending to have an extension of mile one police station there but the question remained, "which group of the police would volunteer to be sleeping in the container". And so the container had remained vacant until this day.    
            
Many state administrators came to power and left, and Gambia Street still remained the way it was. I had a shop in Gambia Street to-let, but it remained vacant for almost two years. Then his Excellency, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Honourable Ezenwo Nyeso Wike went to campaign in the vicinity, and he promised to construct the roads in Gambia Street if elected into power. And so I begged God to let him achieve his ambition if he would construct the road for the people.
 
Today the roads had been constructed and normal activity have almost returned to the area. And not only had the houses and shops been occupied gradually, the value of the houses have began to appreciate as well. The hoodlums have started leaving the area as the police had successfully made numerous entries into the neighborhood through the now numerous roads, and they had made huge arrests. The place is gradually becoming unsafe place for people with bad motives for moving into the area. Now while the Muslims are doing their prayers on Fridays, vehicles could still go in and out of Gambia through Ayama Street, which is adjacent to Gambia Street at its extreme.
 
Another issue now is that the mechanics at the extreme of Gambia Street would not leave the area even after the deadline given to them had elapsed. They claimed the empty plots of land there are in contention between those who claimed to have bought them and the indigenes of the place, and that the government of the state had also come out to say the land belong to the government. The mechanics said that with this development, only the government could put up any structure there, and that apart from the government, either of the other parties wishing to put up structures there would have to wait until  the lingering issues are resolved, which might takes years. And that the government is not ready to put up any structure there at the moment, and so they have all the time in the world to remain there.
 
My advice to the state government is to put a stand of solar energy light at the end of Gambia Street and another at Chief Jack's Lane, which is the gathering spot of the hoodlums. On Wednesday 23rd August 2016, a youth who seemed to have a little problem with speech had an ear-piece in his ear, from which he was listening to music in his touch screen phone. We watched the youth dance in front of the Church of God Seventh Day, and while he was leaving, as he was about to walk past Jack's lane five other youths rounded him up. One of the five youths held him by the collar and they pulled him into Jack's lane, and when next the youth walked back to Gambia Street after thirty seconds, he had only the ear-piece hanging on his neck. He was furious and actually managed to say that he would be coming back with the police to arrest everybody on the street, and the people were not moved by that at all. Instead, they sympathized with him for his misfortune.    
 
 
 
The free education programme embarked by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State is another good development. Although I really can’t tell how he is able to sustain it in this present hard time. I spoke to a political science students of Imo State University about the scholarship programme for undergraduates from the state by the governor, and she told me that Governor Rochas Okorocha since 2013 had extended the free education programme to students from other states of the federation.
 
By Damian Chidiebere Dike