Fire outbreaks in Nnewi have become a yearly occurrence; yet, Innoson Vehicles is manufacturing fire trucks in Nnewi.
―Ebuka Onyekwelu
Nnewi is a major industrial and commercial hub in Nigeria, with multimillion-dollar industries and ever-expanding market opportunities and possibilities, as well as potentials for landmark innovations. The Nnewi auto parts market is the biggest in Nigeria and beyond. Nnewi at some point gained a reputation as “Nigeria’s Detroit”, but more popularly known as the “Japan of Africa”, owing to the enormity of fabrications, manufacturing, creativity, ingenuity, and ventures going on in the town.
Nearly 100% of businesses and manufacturing going on in Nnewi is owned by Nnewi indigenes. The status of Nnewi as a business and industrial hub was built completely from scratch by individuals, through personal efforts and resourcefulness, without any form of external or government support whatsoever, to date.
A four community township, Nnewi has one local government area, Nnewi North Local Government Area, which is one of the twenty-one local government areas of Anambra state. The Nnewi town union, once a formidable force, has become an image of its past glory. The last local government election in Nnewi held in 2013 just before the tenure of the former governor, Peter Obi elapsed. The former governor spent nearly eight years on the saddle as governor of Anambra state and conducted local government election on the eve of the expiration of his tenure of office. Perhaps, this is the template the current governor is using to delay the conduct of local government election in Anambra for almost seven years he has spent in office. Whatever may be the case, the sheer fact that Nnewi has no elected local government executive for more than sixteen years has not helped the town.
Sheer fact that Nnewi has no elected local government executive for more than sixteen years has not helped the town.
In 2013, Nnewi voters overwhelmingly supported the Labour Party candidate but that election was never to see the light of the day as the former governor scuttled the wishes of the people and instead imposed a caretaker committee while the other twenty local government areas had elected local government officials. Currently, the Transition Chairman of Nnewi North Local Government Area, Rt. Hon. Chukwudi Orizu, has not been able to do much and the fact that he has no real executive powers has remained a very convenient excuse. Although not having defined executive powers does not translate to not having goodwill and powerful imagination that can be easily transformed into projects that the people themselves can identify with and bring to fruition. It also does not mean that the office generates zero Naira. However, there is absolutely nothing going on.
As for the town union, even the state government-sponsored ‘community choose your project initiative’ is still neck-deep in series of controversies as a result of which till date, Nnewi is yet to complete the first phase of this initiative while many other communities have already completed the first, second and going to the third phase of their own community project. The shocking thing is that Nnewi chose to build a hall, instead of a fire service or an ICT hub or something much more important and relevant to the realities of the town. In this age and time, a town like Nnewi is building a town hall, when the entire town is under constant threat of fire outbreak. A town hall when the future of machine parts is unclear and fast diminishing. Nnewi is building a town hall when hundreds of young men and women who are graduates and unable to fit into the economy of the yesteryears are stranded and still living off their aging parents with no clear future of their own.
Nnewi is a town in need of leadership. The entire economy of the town must be re-imagined for the town to be able to maintain the pace of modern advancement even in a third world country.
Fire outbreaks in Nnewi have become a yearly occurrence during the dry season; yet, Innoson Vehicles is manufacturing fire trucks in Nnewi. Such an irony! For at least the past five years, there have been so many major fire outbreaks in Nnewi usually in December and January. In December 2015, the Chikason Gas plant went up in flames. The ugly incident led to the death of about one hundred people according to several reports and destroyed properties worth millions of Naira. In January of the following year, Organizer filling station at Amuko junction was completely razed to the ground, along with other nearby properties. It is not clear if there were any casualties.
Between 2016 and 2020, so many other fire incidences have occurred. The fire incidence at a beer palour that killed three girls, electrical parts fire outbreak that destroyed goods worth hundreds of millions, among many others. Only recently, a fire outbreak destroyed a motorcycle manufacturing factory in Nnewi owned by Nnewi industrialist, Chief Louis Onwugbenu of Louis Carter Group. The muilti-million Naira factory was completely destroyed. This incident was followed closely by the most recent V-max filling station fire outbreak. In each of the instances, mind-boggling casualties are recorded, with goods and properties worth hundreds of millions lost, and sometimes, lives are lost as well. Yet, it does not appear to be a priority for either the local government or the town union to provide functional fire service in Nnewi, considering that the one provided by the state government is grossly inadequate.
Nnewi as a whole has just one functional fire truck that serves Nnewi and environs which stretched to Ihiala, Oba, Ekwulobia, and others. When the need arises, the same truck can be deployed to Onitsha. There are two fire service stations in Nnewi; one inside the machine parts market and one very close to Eme Court. The station inside the market faces severe problems of water supply as there is no borehole inside the market and no nearby source of water supply. The station close to Eme Court has been converted to a private residence. Aside from the borehole and gigantic overhead tank, there is absolutely nothing to show that it is a fire station. The lone fire truck often suffers from breakdown due to over-usage.
The Fire Service Station close to Eme Court has been converted to a private residence.
The fire service also suffers from understaffing and always never has enough firemen to move when need be. These issues provoke a delay in the response of the fire service to any fire incidence. Under this circumstance where the response is slow, usually, the fire ravages, causing destructive damages before any response from fire service. Sadly this experience has been the recurring decimal. Nevertheless, each time there is a fire outbreak; many people act as if the fire service can magically quench the fire even without fire fighting equipment. After each incidence, life goes on and the cycle continues.
But for Nnewi, there ought to be a different pattern. A people who moved their community to the world map through personal efforts can surely provide basic measures to secure several million-dollar investments scattered all over the town, with or without government. This, one must note, does not mean excusing government or absolving the government of its responsibilities. Though the reality as it is, is that the government is living below the minimum expectation of the people and the fire safety of Nnewi cannot be entrusted in such enclosed uncertainty.
Therefore, self-help is required to put the necessary structures in place. With a leader that is motivated by the public good, someone who has goodwill, at the helm of affairs at the local government and, or as the town union president, then, it becomes easier for resources to be mobilized and judiciously utilized to build a functional and well-equipped fire service station for the town. It becomes easier to have a rallying point that can engender diverse dimensions of public service and progress in Nnewi. The people are ever willing to donate to a worthy cause that uplifts the town, when the leadership that can carefully map out a clear vision that must be followed to its final conclusions, is in place. Nnewi should not wait till it is burned down before it finds the solution to the frequent fire outbreaks especially during dry seasons.
♦ Ebuka Onyekwelu, strategic governance exponent, is a columnist with the WAP
