Tony John, Port Harcourt
At last, residents of sandfilled and Lawson compound in Buguma city, in Asari -Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, had heaved a sigh of relief from agony of rejection and hopelessness.
One could observe visible expression of joy and happiness on the faces of people living in the area, as they got passable bridge and drinkable water, having passed through decades of frustration and isolation.
Daily Sun gathered from the residents that people living in part of Buguma had suffered accessible road to the community health centre for several decades ago.
Agony of those years of suffering had made the residents of the area wonder what was their offence for being abandoned and denied of basic social amenities.
Tales of their woe of those decades were sympathetic. According to some of the residents, the plank bridge used to access another village or community exposed them more danger and hardship.
From their agonizng tales, several times, they recorded deaths due to difficulties accessing the community health centre. Also, the bridge affected development in the area. They were totally cut off and made to suffer in the midst of plenty.
From information available to Daily Sun, Rivers State government built a health centre in the community. But, a river demarcated the facility and the people.
The natives, on their own, constructed a woody bridge to enable them access the health facility. But, that only served the pedestrians. Neither vehicles, nor motorcycles could not pass through the woody bridge.
According to community sources, whenever the woody bridge collapsed, school children and pregnant women, who also used it, fell inside the river.
Recounting the misfortunes occasioned by lack of accessible bridge, one of the residents of the area, Mrs. Emelia Sokari, said they had lost several lives.
Sokari stated: “We have lost several lives due to lack of access to the health facility in Buguma City, because vehicles cannot pass on the woody bridge.
“You can see, the health centre is not far from where the people live. But, because of the wooden bridge across a health centre, each time we are bringing sick people to the clinic, the vehicle cannot cross. So, we will carry the sick persons on the head to cross to the hospital. Sometimes, in a bid to carry the persons, the very sick ones die due to the difficult experiences and sufferings”, Mrs. Sokari stated.
According to her, it was a huge relief, when the State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, through the State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) constructed a mini bridge for the community.
The SEEFOR Project is financed with credit from World Bank, grant from European Union and counterpart fund from State Government.
SEEFOR project is a multifaceted project borne out of the need to consolidate the gains from the Amnesty programme of the Federal Government in the Niger Delta region. It is implemented in four states of the region, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Rivers.
Daily Sun gathered that the mini bridge project was constructed in October 2019. A recent visit to the area showed that vehicles and motorcycles now convey sick people from the communities to the health facility.
An elated Victoria Jackson, a pregnant woman, could not hide her joy. She expressed her feelings with gladness to God and SEEFOR , in deed, coming to the rescue of the people living in the area.
“We are grateful for the mini bridge; it helps those who are living at sandfilled to cross with vehicles and motorcycles to the health centre. In the past, some pregnant women had serious challenges of crossing the woody bridge. it brought a lot of fears to the community. But, we are elated today, over the bridge”, she expressed.
Also, the Paramount Ruler of Lawson Compound, Chief Owunari Lawson, had requested for more bridges in the community, as well as drainages to ensure easy flow of flood waters to the river.
Lawson said: “The drainage is not enough; we want more to be constructed because when the rain falls, water will enter our houses and every where will be flooded due to the fact that the gutters have been blocked. We want gutters to be constructed, so that when rain falls, water can flow easily into the drainage.
Similarly, Mr. Green George, expressed: “We are residents of sandfilled; the woody bridge made it difficult for us to carry loads to our houses. Before now, we can’t carry load and cross the woody bridge. But, presently, we can use machine or vehicles to cross. But, we need more of the bridges.
SEEFOR was also in Ewika community in Alode in Eleme Local Government Area of the state, where it also brought joy to the natives and residents.
It was discovered that the had lived for about 70 years without any access to portable drinking water. The natived said they had lived in a mirage world, without any hope of drinking potable water.
Daily Sun gathered that women and children in the area had to trek miles to get water. According to them, they easily fall ill due to water borne diseases like diarrhea, skin infections contracted from well water, which was the only available option.
So, it was a moment of joy in the community, as SEEFOR team also provided portable water for the community recently.
Speaking on the project, the Paramount Ruler of Ewika Community, Chief Jacob Mkpai, said: “I am 70 years old; and since I was born, we have not seen portable drinking water in my community. This is the first time in my life, we are witnessing portable water and as you can see, the people are happy.
“SEEFOR officials came and asked us what we want. We said, we need portable drinking water. So, they approved it and provided the money and quality service control and we brought the labour. And today, we are very delighted the water project has been executed and our people are healthier”.
The traditional ruler disclosed that it was very difficult to drill quality borehole in the area because the area was oil locked.
In same vein, Mrs. Agnes Nwede said, before now, the children often fell ill due to water contaminated diseases. She expressed joy for the provision of portable drinking water which would reduce incessant diarrhoea and other water borne diseases.
However, in Rivers, the SEEFOR Project is supervised by the State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. Five local government areas in the State, namely Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City, Eleme, Ikwerre and Akuku-Toru have benefited from a world bank assisted SEEFOR project with intervention from the state government.
The National Project Coordinator for SEEFOR, Greg Onu, after touring sites of the projects, said the projects were aimed at enhancing youth employment and access to socio-economic services, while improving public expenditure management systems in the participating states.
The State Coordinator of SEEFOR, Mr. Kelcious Amos, said, he was happy seeing joy in the faces of the beneficiaries. He appealed to them to sustain the project, promising to bring more projects to the communities.