By Sylverster Oriabure
Ever since I can
remember, Uromi used to be a beehive of activities with Inhabitants of neighbouring
towns and villages taking advantage of this busy environment to shop,
socialize, make repairs of all sorts, and even board taxis to such more
developed cities as Benin, Lagos, and Ibadan etc. My thinking as a little boy
was that Uromi would soon blossom to the status of such places like
aforementioned. I started to imagine that before I attain the age of marriage,
my place would have become such a wonderful place to behold with industries,
tertiary institutions, good roads, pipe borne water etc. The reason for this
laudable imagination was because I had the opportunity of traveling around and
about this country very early in life hence I was able to capture the picture
in my mind’s eye of what my place will look like in the very near future
perhaps because of my findings during these trips.
Unfortunately, more than
three decades after, there is nothing significant on ground to show any
improvement in the lives of the people of our place. Portable water, which was
available during the seventies and early eighties, is non-existent. In parts of
Uromi, the people still use alum to fitter water derived from ponds while
others who can afford it buy from tanker drivers who source theirs directly
from streams and rivers in the neighbouring towns and villages. Surveys have
revealed that a lot of Uromi people suffer too often from typhoid fever
occasioned by drinking untreated water from ponds, streams and rivers. The
question is how many villages do we have in Uromi and what does it cost to have
a borehole in each village when individuals could afford to do same in their
homes irrespective of depth of water table? For example, if we have twenty-five
(25) villages and it costs two million Naira (N2,000,000.00) to have one, then
it boils down to meaning that Fifty Million Naira (N50,000,000.00) would have
been enough to give our people water to drink and eradicate sickness and
diseases to a very tolerable level. Why has it been impossible all these years
for administrators of our Local Government to do anything in this direction? I
hear that moves are on to provide water for the land I said may God Almighty
bless the initiators of such an important project, but we are waiting. Seeing
is believing!
Today, there is no
tertiary institution in the whole of Uromi, not even a satellite campus of such
establishment. No college of education, Polytechnic or University. I hear also
that a neighbouring town with which Uromi shares boundary can be proud of a
polytechnic and a school of nursing today. Whoever did that would have left his
footprints in the sand of time after he has served here on earth.
Outsiders irrespective
of ethnic affiliations will seize the opportunity and enroll in these
institutions and sooner than later, what we have witnessed at Ekpoma will
repeat itself here. The place will become a beehive of commercial activities
and like Ekpoma, Uromi sons and daughters will troop there in their numbers to
seek for admission and job opportunities. The importance of a tertiary institution
to the rapid development of a place cannot be over emphasized. e.g. Ekpoma,
Abraka, Oghara etc.
Indigenous graduates
from various institutions across the country are forced to seek greener pasture
elsewhere while other damn the consequences of crossing the ocean to seek the
golden fleece abroad. I understand that lots of Uromi people within and outside
Nigeria have the financial muscle and influence to attract these institutions
to this place but I am constrained to know why the situation on ground has
deteriorated to the present state. If God has blessed you, why not extend your
hand of fellowship by making life more meaningful for your people? If you are
in position to make things happen positively in the lives of your people, why
not do anything humanly possible to alleviate and elevate the plight of your
people? All fingers are not equal and God has a purpose for putting you in your
present position. It’s definitely necessary for you to leave a legacy for
posterity.
I gathered from a
reliable source that so many years ago, the only town that could nearly compare
favorably with Benin City in this part of our region was Uromi. Now, what has
happened to our place? According our elders “The man at the front cannot be
behind” I prefer to think that we are making progress. Our people are not
helpless but they just look on. It is unfortunate that during this age it has
not downed on people that the world is a stage where all men and women are mere
players. They have their entrances and exits. One man in his lifetime plays
many roles and no matter how good or bad these part are played, history never
fails to accord them the right place in its annals. Such is evident of Late
Prof. Ambrose Folorunsho Alli. He never owned any edifice. He lived with the
people, for the people and died for the people. He never accumulated wealth for
himself. “Power is absolutely nothing if your people are suffering.” If not for
Ambrose Alli, many graduates today both in Edo and Delta States would have been
stranded in life.
Well, painful as these
shortcomings might be, what man cannot change, God certainly can even within
seconds. Whoever is constituting nuisance to the overall development of Uromi
will never escape the wrath of God Almighty. “The evil that men do lives after
them”. When a man lives alone, he live in vain but when he lives for others he
certainly live again. The real pain is that a lot of concerned citizens of
Uromi are not financially disposed to change anything presently but God knows
and sees the heart of man.
I am looking forward to
the day when intending political office seekers will be made to stand in the
alter of God or swear before the elders of our place and like Prof. Dora
Akunyili, ask the thunder of God to fall on them if they siphon public funds
instead of serving or representing the people of our place with precision. As
awkward as this angle might sound it is capable of sieving the chaff from the
grains and development will come to Uromi significantly.
Particularly,
heart-warming is the resilience and hardworking nature of Uromi people. This
has endeared us to all and sundry. Perhaps this informed the reasons why the
Uromi people are sometimes referred to as the Igbo of Esan land. This is the
sustaining power of the average Uromi indigene till date. There are pockets of self-help
here and there but are not enough to impact meaningfully on the lives of the
generality of the people. We cannot construct roads for ourselves, provide pipe
born water, build tertiary institutions, industries, and repair gullied roads
etc without assistance from relevant authorities. These among others, are what
we are craving for except there is a grand design somewhere, somehow to side
track our people consistently in the scheme of things.
Also of note is the
respect accorded us anywhere we went. For instance, I was discussing with a top
military officer some years back and while the discussion lasted, he said that
Uromi people are power brokers within our region and Nigeria as a whole. He
also added that the history of how Nigeria got her independence would not be
complete without a respectful mention of Uromi. I agreed with him and also
asked him if it would have been out of place for the government to acknowledge
this by changing that mere respectful mention of Uromi as a result of the arrow
contribution of Chief Anthony Enahoro during pre-independence time to
respectful provision of infrastructures at least to reflect some level of
appreciation and recognition. He also agreed with me and said that Nigerians
don’t appreciate the contribution of their people while still alive.
I felt very sorry for
this country. I won’t know if things would have been different if Chief Anthony
Enahoro had come from other ethnic region. I thought Nigeria and Nigerians must
imbibe the spirit of celebrating great achievers among us while still alive.
The attitude of eulogizing and celebrating achievers after death is very
unfortunate and must be discarded.
However and honestly, I
started to assume a superior air over him despite his khaki and felt taller than
my actual height because that is our place and our home and he just said the
truth. Who won’t be happy to hear such good things said about his people? But
as soon as I disembarked from his car, it suddenly dawned on me that these
accolade are not reflective on the live of the people of Uromi. The euphoria of
that compliment suddenly died down and I went into my apartment to watch a
comedy program as consolation.
