Ndi Ebe Abam indigenes are suffering over collapsed Igwu bridge

 Over a year after the collapse of Igwu Bridge last year in Ndi Ebe Abam, Arochukwu, Abia Stae, her indigenes have been going through untold hardship and harrowing experience to survive on a daily basis.

This is due to their inability to convey their farm produce such as yam, rice, garri, palm oil, plantain, banana, maize, pineapples, vegetables and so on, to markets in neighbouring towns like Ozu Abam, Bende and Umuahia.

  According to Princess Ada Dalyn Dike, a journalist and an indigene of the town, "some of Ndi Ebe Abam's indigenes who normally park their vehicles beside the Igwu River are having it rough as unknown persons always vandalise their vehicles before dawn. My town was a ghost one when I visited there recently. And I wept."
To make the matter worse, most traders from Abia and Imo States that used to go to Ndi Ebe Abam Eke market have stopped going there due to the fact that no vehicle enters the community.

“We hereby appeal to the governor of Abia State, His Excellency, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, to help us build a modern bridge that will last longer than the former one which was made with irons and planks and maintained by the indigenes for many years. We also implored the government to help them construct the road which has been neglected for years.”
Ndi Ebe Abam has a population of over 9,500 citizens. We learnt that their standard of living has dropped after the collapse of the bridge.

According to the Eze Ogo (Chief) of Ndi Ebe Abam, Chief Dike Iroegbu, their problems started when the bridge collapsed around 4.45 pm on Tuesday, July 1, 2014, when a 25-ton truck conveying chippings to a building site in Ndi Ebe Abam tried to pass through it. He added that he’s glad that no life was lost when the bridge collapsed, though the driver of the truck and his conductor sustained minor injuries.

 “The Igwu Bridge was first constructed on May 7, 1960. But on August 1, 1984, it collapsed when a caterpillar tried to pass through it and the weight gave in. It was reconstructed on August 24, 1984 through the combined efforts of Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (rtd), and his cousin, Chief O. O. Awah, retired Deputy Director of Nigerian Customs Service.

“We are hopelessly helpless. Since the collapse of the bridge in July, we have been suffering and this has inflicted huge economic loss to the community since we cannot transport our farm produce to markets with ease. In fact, all commercial activities have been halted at a standstill. Our women cannot go to Afor-ukwu market at Ozu Abam and Afor-Bende market and Umuahia market to buy and sell. They cannot go to Orie-Amuru market. He however, appealed to the Abia State Government to come to their aid by rebuilding their bridge and construct their roads in a modern form.

“All we the elders are asking and begging is that this bridge be reconstructed for us and our road tarred.”

 “Ndi Ebe Abam has common boundaries with Abiriba, Ozu Abam, Ndi Ojiuwo Abam, Amuru Abam and Umuhu Ezechi. Road networks from the town to other neighbouring towns are bad so, Ndi Ebe Abam has been cut off from her neighbours due to collapse of some bridges, pot-holes and flood as commuters have deserted the roads.

“In the 1980s, many Abiriba indigenes and visitors plied Ndi Ebe Abam roads to Abiriba. But since 1999, after elections, the roads have become havens for reptiles and wild animals because Abia State Government abandoned the road and could not even grade it as the military governments used to do on a regular basis.

It is pertinent to note that a native of Ndi Ebe Abam, St Kingsley Uzoaru JP, raised an alarm over the bridge on Facebook in 2013 that: “Anybody who travelled last December, and every visitor to Ndi Ebe Abam last Christmas will bear me witness that we do not have a road from Ndi Ojiugwo Abam to Ndi Ebe Abam. The once popular and beautiful Igwu Bridge is now a death trap. We are waiting for the first victim to fall inside it in his car, probably with his family. …This bridge has started rusting. Why won’t it rust when it was hastily re-constructed in 1984 after the collapse of the former one when a heavy vehicle tried to pass through it? Igwu Bridge is a death-trap which may collapse any moment from now. Its concretes have cracked and almost fallen while the irons have rusted so the bridge shakes when a vehicle is passing through it. Also, The Ogbuebulu and Ogbele bridges made with concrete and built in 1960s have holes in them and may soon collapse,” Uzoaru lamented.

He stressed that: “Ndi Ebe Abam is housing many governmental projects like the Anambra-Imo River Basin Authority, Rice/Irrigation Project, as well as World Bank. The bridge links Ndi Ebe Abam to the outside world. “Through the bridge, Ndi Ebe Abam gets access to other Abam communities in Abam (26 in numbers). It also links Ndi Ebe to Bende, Umuahia and the world at large. The bridge is also a link between the world to Ndi Ebe, Abiriba and Amuru Abam, as well as over 20 equally industrious settlements (plantations/clans).
“Our reaction is that of despair, anguish and hopelessness, especially, when it happened, those that drove out for their businesses could not drive back in, and some were forced to drive back to where they were coming from, some were forced to sleep outside, because it rained so the river (Igwu River) overflowed and was yet to recede.
“It has greatly paralyzed business activities like those traders, palm oil producers, teachers and so on cannot even go about their businesses like before.”

Ndi Ebe Abam is one of the four most populous communities in Abam Onyerubi in Arochukwu LGA of Abia State. It is pertinent to note that Ndi Ebe Abam has produced many lawyers, journalists, Customs and Excise officers, policemen, teachers, pharmacists, medical doctors, politicians and so on, who have sacrificed their time, lives and resources for the development of Abia State and Nigeria.

Apart from Igwu River, Ndi Ebe Abam is surrounded by beautiful rivers and streams namely: ‘Ogbu-ebulu,’ ‘Ogbele, Ogbele-aga,’ ‘Iyi Elu-ogo,’ ‘Okpu-ufie,’ ‘Ogbu-Ocha,’ ‘Nfia-anyi’ and so on. Many of these rivers usually overflow its banks and cover the roads which sometimes hinder Ndi Ebe Abam natives from going to farms or market.

Another reason why this town is called small London is because it is a tourist centre. The town’s popular bi-annual celebration known as ‘Ekpe-aka’ which can be likened to a unique, tall masquerade of about 50 feet tall, in which a boy below nine years of age would be on top, waving and dancing to the rhythm of songs rendered by young men and women.  This celebration attracts thousands of visitors from all walks of life.