Who will save Warri from its rot?

By Sunny Ikhioya THE story of Warri city has been told so many times, a city that has given so much, yet got so little in return, with a giant sized reputation and wallowing in penury, a happy people, hospitable and full of live, yet dying slowly. Who will save Warri from its rot? You cannot see a Warri boy – wafarian – anywhere and not take notice; his unique pidgin english language, his braggadocio, his vigour and yes, his jokes. The wafarian lives by joking and ‘yabbing’, which is the kernel of his social interactions. Before now, you cannot claim to be a super star without coming to Warri, the days of Lido nite club, Zeinanite club and others. The city was safe – 24 hours groove and hospitality. Warri was infact a no man’s land as there was no ethnic discrimination of any kind. Even during the Nigerian civil war, Warri was neutral, that shows the extent of generosity that this small but significant city possess. But all of these are now in the past, a first time visitor to Warri will be appalled by the state of squalor, dereliction, abuse and total neglect. There is no single sign of governance. What previous governments like the Ogbemudia regime had put in place now lie waste; roads in various degrees of disrepair, dirty and cramped houses, roads are blocked at will for flimsy of reasons. Yet, there are at least four main police stations, an army and naval bases and other security agencies. No functional local government, one is told that they have not received salaries for over seven months, no health and sanitary inspectors, deplorable roads and multiple abandoned road projects. Warri is now a shadow of its old self. As a result of the vibrancy of the wafarian, everyone from the old Bendel state wants to be known as a wafarian but those days are gone. Who will save Warri from its dire state? It is a very serious matter. People are dying daily and more are to follow due to neglect. The politicians are only seen during elections and when that is over, everyone goes back to his tent. Even before oil, Warri was a commercial city, as a trading post right from the colonial times, so you hear of “the commercial city of Warri” before it became “oil city.” Now businesses have packed up and Warri is now at ground zero level. Is the situation redeemable? I think it is because the Warri man has a resilient spirit, never say die but this can only yield dividend under an atmosphere of peace and co-operation. Are the warlords ready to let Warri be? Are the fake resource control protagonists ready to be fruitful? Is the Delta state government ready to give Warri its due consideration and institute a Marshall plan to revamp the city? Are the various traditional leaders in Warri and environs ready to put heads together and work towards a common goal of progress for the metropolitan city of Warri? Because, Warri as it is today, is an agglomeration of towns, not the small restricted Odion, Okere, Erejuwa areas of those days. Are we ready to shed sword and work for peace and progress? We cannot find solutions if we are unable to identify the causes of our present circumstances; the needless ethnic conflicts and corrupt politicians who have put personal pecuniary interests over development of the collective- I understand the past governor has gone underground because everywhere he goes, he is now greeted with chants of “who you help”. The electricity distribution company owners in Warri are happy when there is black out as they make more money working on estimated billings, which is stealing by trick. The beneficiaries of the conflicts are now multi billion naira tycoons, people who promoted and executed the ethnic crises are now living in opulence, flouting it before the helpless citizenry, with official security men as their body guards while the helpless and law abiding people watch. How do we save Warri from this rot? Warri has produced so many great men; past administrators, successful businessmen and professionals in all areas of human endeavour, what can we give back to Warri? The governor of state, IfeanyiOkowa must realise that a comatose Warri city is not in the interest of Delta state. In fact, if Warri sneezes, the whole Delta state feels it. That is why he must call his cabinet together and arrange for re-engineering of the city of Warri, like he has done for Asaba. Warri city needs a new drainage plan, roads rehabilitation, public schools resuscitation, sanitary and health attention, completion of abandoned projects and the elimination of unviable projects embarked upon by the previous administration, especially in the Effurun-Warri express stretch. Those BRT projects should be re-evaluated, local governments must be encouraged to function as the state government cannot do it alone. Let us see and experience law and order. It is the responsibility of the present government to ensure that Warri city is brought back to its glory days. Without doubt,the entire state, nay the nation will profit from the city’s rebranding. *Mr. Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.