Residents of Ndi Ebe Abam – also called small London – in Abia State have been marooned since the collapse of Igwu Bridge last year, recreating harrowing experiences from 1984 when it first gave in under the weight of a caterpillar.
Most traders from Abia and Imo States have also stopped going to markets in Ndi Ebe Abam Eke as no vehicle can get to the community.
Like a ghost town
Ada Dike, a journalist and an indigene of the town, moaned that “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.
“We hereby appeal to Governor Victor 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 implore the government to help them construct the road which has been neglected for years.”
The standard of living of the population of about 10,000 in Ndi Ebe Abam has dropped since the collapse of the bridge.
The traditional ruler of the town, Dike Iroegbu, said the bridge crashed at about 4.45pm on July 1, 2014 when a 25-tonne truck conveying materials to a building site in Ndi Ebe Abam attempted to drive through it.
No one died in the accident but the driver and his conductor received injuries.
The bridge was first constructed on May 7, 1960. It collapsed on August 1, 1984 when a caterpillar tried to pass through it.
It was reconstructed on August 24, 1984 through the efforts of former Chief of General Staff, Ebitu Ukiwe, and his cousin, O. O. Awah, a retired deputy director in the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
Cut off from everywhere
“We are hopelessly helpless,” Iroegbu lamented.
“Since the collapse of the bridge in July, we have been suffering and this has inflicted a huge economic loss on the community since we cannot transport our farm produce to markets with ease.
“In fact, all commercial activities have been halted. Our women cannot go to markets in Afor-ukwu, Afor-Bende, and Umuahia to buy and sell. They cannot go to Orie-Amuru market.
Iroegbu appealed to Ikpeazu to come to the aid of the community. “All we, the elders, are begging for is that this bridge be reconstructed for us and our roads tarred.”
Ndi Ebe Abam has common boundaries with Abiriba, Ozu Abam, Ndi Ojiuwo Abam, Amuru Abam, and Umuhu Ezechi.
Roads to these towns are also bad, completely cutting Ndi Ebe Abam off from its neighbours.
Iroegbu recalled that “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 the Abia State government abandoned the road and could not even grade it as military governments used to do on a regular basis.”
Taking to facebook
Another native, Kingsley Uzoaru, raised an alarm 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 built with concrete in the 1960s have holes in them and may soon collapse.
“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.
“Some were forced to drive back to where they were coming from, some were forced to sleep outside, because it rained so [Igwu River] overflowed and was yet to recede.
“It has greatly paralysed business activities as traders, palm oil producers, teachers, and so on cannot even go about their businesses like before.”
Small London
Ndi Ebe Abam has many government projects, including the Anambra-Imo River Basin Authority, rice/irrigation, and one by the World Bank.
It is one of the four most populous communities in Abam Onyerubi.
Ndi Ebe Abam is called small London partly because it is surrounded by beautiful rivers and streams such as Ogbu-ebulu, Ogbele, Ogbele-aga, Iyi Elu-ogo, Okpu-ufie, Ogbu-Ocha, and Nfia-anyi – apart from Igwu River.
However, many of these rivers usually overflow their banks, cover the roads, and hinder the residents from going to farms or markets.