Anambra State Government Begins Massive Desilting Of Okpoko Sacamori

Following the severe flooding of homes in Okpoko, loss of lives as a result of drowning, and destruction of major infrastructure due to the Okpoko Sacamori that became filled with debris, Governor Chukwuma Soludo has awarded contracts to four construction companies to desilt the Sacamori drainage.

The 20ft Okpoko Sacamori is a major, critical flood channel which plays a massive infrastructural role in channeling storm water from Awada, Fegge, Nkpor, and Okpoko down into the River Niger, but over the years, human activities like indiscriminate refuse disposal and the dumping of solid waste, plastics, and domestic refuse directly into gutters and channels have severely choked the Sacamori, turning a vital flood-control waterway into a hazard that causes devastating floods in Okpoko community and environs.

Speaking to our team on the evacuation exercise, where heavy mechanical excavators, swamp buggies, and trucks were seen in action, the Ogbaru Local Government Project Site Engineer, Mr. Anthony Nnaetoo, said various construction firms are handling the dredging from Ndida Well portion of the Sacamori down to Ogbuagu Junction, the catchment pit intersection at Orange Drug, the desilting of the Sacamori from New Market to Ogbuagu Junction, and the dredging of the Sacamori across the Second Niger Bridge to Idemili Obosi River down to the River Niger.

Mr. Nnaetoo, who said that the construction firms have been working to evacuate the debris in the Sacamori, regretted that while they are working, once rain falls, it keeps bringing refuse from Nkpor, Awada, Fegge, etc., which is causing more havoc, and called for a review of the Sacamori dredging to enable the construction firms to achieve the desired result.

The Ogbaru Local Government Chairman, Hon. Kenneth Akwuobi, and the President General of Okpoko, who spoke to our team, stressed that the dredging of the Sacamori is a major intervention by the Soludo administration, and said the work is progressing on all fronts.

Some residents of Okpoko, including Mazi Ogbuefi Ijele, Raphael Adigwe, Mr. Francis Nwanze, and Mr. Francis Omile, who recalled their ugly experiences whenever it rains, expressed joy over the state government’s intervention, and said that the last desilting of the Sacamori was done five years ago during the Obiano administration.

They pleaded with the government to desilt the 20ft Sacamori once or twice in a year during the dry season to mitigate the effects of flooding, while Mr. Solomon Nweke from Cokes Market, Onitsha, called for an attitudinal change among the people and urged residents to support the government to achieve its vision for the state.