Warri: Trapped between oil wealth and squalor

Warri’s image as an oil-rich city and commercial hub of the Niger Delta is threatened by filth and slums, reports Chux Ohai

 Mercy Filatei lives in a small island, just behind the Ogbe-Ijoh Waterside Market in Warri. She lives with her husband and their two children. The place is called Fenigbene Camp and it is inhabited mostly by Ijaw fishermen, traders and a few boat builders.

A few weeks ago, Mercy’s husband, Timi, went in search of a job in Lagos. Like most other male residents, he was tired of earning a meagre income from fishing and living in a squalid condition at the camp.

Mercy tries to augment his earnings by selling roasted fish.With the little money she makes, she is able to feed their two children and take care of the home-front.

This Saturday afternoon, she is back in her regular spot near the entrance to the camp. A short distance to her left, some boat builders are already busy at work. And behind her, a few dugout canoes paddled by women are ferrying passengers across the river, just as the pleasant aroma of roasting fish filled the air.

Most of the residents of the camp seem to be absorbed in a quiet struggle for survival. Like the Filateis, many of them appear determined to rise above the squalid conditions that define their existence in the community.

“The residents of Fenigbene community are self-made people. They are not enjoying any amenities. Instead, they have been providing their own needs without assistance from the state or local government.

“There is nothing coming from the government to the people. All they have been doing is make empty promises. After every election, they forget what they pledged to do for the people. This is what we have been facing in this town. There is nothing we can do about it,  other than to hope in God’s intervention,” Chief Porto-Novo Dieyei, the Pere-Egbewei of Isaba Kingdom, says.

Unfortunately it appears that the efforts of the people have not amounted to much. The ‘island’, which was barely reclaimed from the water, is still a study in squalor. The ‘soil’, made of thick layers of saw dust, is so fragile that only wooden houses and similar structures can be erected on it.

In addition to the absence of potable water and electricity supply, there is no school or health care facility in Fenigbene. The people depend on the river, which is currently plagued by water hyacinth, for their water supply. Since they could not build toilets in the camp because of the nature of the ‘soil’, they have no other choice than to empty their bowels in the same water.

 “It is not enough to say that the residents live on the margin, they are the margin themselves,” Dieyei says.

Yet, while admitting that its condition is bad enough, a former councillor with the Warri South Local Government Area, Mrs. Rose Tulu,  says the community falls under the joint supervision of the local government council and the Warri South West LGA.

In an interview with our correspondent, Tulu says it is the duty of both LGAs and the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission to improve on the welfare of the residents of the community.

“Fenigbene is part of Warri South LGA and Warri SouthWest LGA. The community is highly populated. We have always known it to be a fishing camp. It is the duty of parastatals like the DESOPADEC to execute some developmental projects in oil-producing communities.

“Sometimes, government officials themselves need to visit the communities under their supervision to see things for themselves. It is the duty of the representatives of the government to monitor the progress of contracts awarded for developmental projects,” she says.

But the problem is not peculiar to the community, as Dieyei notes. “If you look around, you will discover that there is no potable water in Ogbe-Ijoh Waterside as a whole. The roads are bad and there is no drainage system. Development is slow and poor.

“Unfortunately, DESOPADEC, which was created by the government to spread development to the grass roots, has neglected communities like Fenigbene. Officials of the commission are only interested in developing the communities of their friends. DESOPADEC is involved in what I would describe as ‘man-know-man business,” he says.

 Infrastructural decay

Further inland, the same pitiable conditions are prevalent in parts of Warri that are densely populated. There is appalling evidence of infrastructural decay in places like the Okumagba Layout, Ugborikoko quarters and Essi Layout.

Investigation shows that apart from the Warri-Sapele Road, which is the major road that leads to the city; Okere Road, Airport Road, Refinery Road, which is still under construction, and parts of the Government Reservation Area, tarred roads are few.

The city does not only lack a functional drainage system in many parts, it is also filthy. The gutters in most parts of the city are clogged up with refuse, just as the canals and other water channels are permanently blocked by filth that has accumulated over a period of time.

Although construction work on Okumagba, which is about 3km long, has been on-going for quite some time; there is no end in sight yet. The project appears to be abandoned.

Yet, none of the backstreets in the densely populated areas, such as Iyara, Enerhen, Okere-Urhobo and Okumagba Layout, is tarred. Those places are not ‘motorable’ and they are always flooded whenever there is heavy rainfall.

Slums

The presence of slums further diminishes the image of the oil-rich city and the commercial hub of the Niger Delta.

“Whenever the name, Iyara, is mentioned in Warri, it evokes trepidation. It is the city’s most dreaded bad spot believed to be the inhabited by undesirable elements,” says Edet Akpan, a commercial tricycle operator in the city.

Located in Essi Layout, Iyara Street is often associated with bizarre and dramatic events. It is said that a woman who sold fried bean cakes (akara) on the street once confessed to witchcraft publicly.

The woman was said to have told a gathering of stunned listeners that the oil, which she used in preparing the delicacy,  was actually the blood of the people whom she had killed at night.

After the confession, the crowd had promptly lynched her and set her body on fire.

Apart from such scary incidents, Iyara has the unenviable record of being the filthiest and most disorganised part of the city.

“This is the Ajegunle of the Niger Delta. It is the headquarters of armed robbers, kidnappers, drug addicts and prostitutes. Even law enforcement agents are scared of visiting the place,” Akpan states.

But Iyara is better known and detested for its shocking squalid condition rather than crime.

Lamenting, Chief City Enikwuemehin, who lives in the area, says, “You can see that there is no development here. We have been trying our best to keep going without external help. We have been doing everything possible to help ourselves instead. No government official has ever bothered to find out how we have been coping under such conditions.

“I have been living here for almost 34 years. We neither enjoy potable water nor regular supply of electricity in this area.

“We don’t have even a common primary school here. Our children attend what you would call ‘akara’ schools. The nearest school is at the next community known as Donuma.

“Despite the fact that we pay our taxes and vote during elections, no government has ever given thought to developing this community. Nobody knows why this is happening. If you visit this place during the rainy season, you will pity the residents of this community. Apart from the fact that the whole place is flooded, all the debris from different parts of Warri are actually collected in floodwater and deposited here.”

Also 80-year old Pa Emmanuel Ejegbah describes Iyara as a ‘forsaken place’.

“I was born and bred in this city. And I’m still here. Iyara has been neglected by successive local government administrations. This place has not witnessed any appreciable change. You can see it for yourself. Even Warri hasn’t changed much these past years. Maybe, a few places have been developed, but I don’t think it is something to be happy about,” he says.

Although another resident of Warri, Ben James, works with an oil company in the city, he has lived in Onifoghara Street for about 16 years. Like the other parts of Okumagba Layout in Warri Local Government Area, the street is filthy, not tarred and always flooded during the rainy season.

The adjoining streets are littered with refuse, which gives them the appearance of one huge waste dump. Faced with this condition, the residents are exposed to mosquitoes, even as the stench emanating from open gutters filled with stagnant water pollute the air.

“There is nothing we can do about it. We cannot tar the roads. Only the government can do that. It is not as if the streets are not regularly swept by the residents. Part of the problem is that there is no means of refuse disposal. You can see that there are no refuse bins here. Second, the streets are not tarred. So there is no way they can be neat and tidy all the time.

“Some time ago, we thought the authorities were about to give the streets a facelift. Truckloads of sand and gravel were deposited on the roads. But that was all. The next thing we discovered was that all the sand and gravels were swept away as soon as the rains came,” James tells our correspondent.

 Overcrowding

There is an indication that the Warri population increased over the last six years, despite the figures of the 2006 national census, which put it at more than 500,000. The result is that the oil-rich city is overcrowded.

Dieyei attributes part of the problem, especially in Ogbe-Ijoh, to the recent demolition of residential houses and other structures in an Ijaw community, Lotiebiri,  in the heart of Warri metropolis.

Apart from the loss of property and businesses valued at several millions of naira, many families were displaced. Some of them had no choice but to either return to their kith and kin for shelter or seek cheap accommodation in the ghettoes.

Warri, no doubt, occupies an important position in the Niger Delta. Apart from being the commercial capital of the region, it is central to exploration in the region.

The oil-rich city boasts a seaport, a stadium with a capacity of 25,000, an airstrip that operates local flights, a refinery, an Army garrison and a Naval base. In addition, the operational offices of major international and local oil companies are located in the city.

At one time, about 50 companies operated in Warri. But, following the outbreak of hostilities among the component ethnic groups in the city, many of the companies were forced to close shop and relocate to other parts of the country. The exodus gave rise to unemployment, as they had to shed most of their staff.

Recalling that period, Emmanuel Etukudo, former Area Manager of NITEL in Warri, says,

“When the companies left, they took away their investments and lay off the bulk of their staff. The result was that many people, particularly the youths, were unemployed and in their desperation, they took to armed robbery and other vices in order to survive. Even those who really wanted to work were unable to find jobs.

“The situation, worsened the condition of people living in the squalid parts of the city, as nobody cared for their welfare anymore.”

In spite of the general picture of decay, there are bright spots in Warri. Among other efforts, the Delta State Government embarked on the rehabilitation and dualisation of major roads. Some of the affected areas include Okere quarters and Enerhen Junction.

The state government banned commercial motorcycles from operating in the city and outlawed the barricading of major roads during parties.

Also, during a recent inspection of the ongoing road project on Okumagba Avenue, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan blamed the heavy rains for the delay in completing it. He said, “The problem has been the rainy season. We seem to have longer days of rain and it is difficult to construct roads anywhere around the state.”

Security

One of the changes that has taken place in Warri is the restoration of law order. Once, the hotbed of kidnapping, robbery and ritual killing in the Niger Delta, the oil city is relatively peaceful nowadays.

The presence of security personnel assigned to the Joint Military Taskforce and the existence of neighbourhood vigilante in various parts of the city has helped in curbing crime to an appreciable extent.

Also,  the presence of newly installed street lights powered by solar energy on major roads and streets has furthered boosted crime fighting in Warri. As a result, places like Enerhen Junction, which used to be favourite haunt of hardened criminals in the metropolis, are now safe at night.

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