Governor Obiano Gives Quit Notice to Okada in Onitsha, Awka

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018

Photo: Commercial motor cycle operators popularly called Okada in Nigeria

From Ignatius Okpara

ANAMBRA, NIGERIA (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Anambra State Governor Willy Obiano has given commercial motor cycle operator fondly called (Okada) in Onitsha and Awka, the capital city until July 1, 2018, to change to another trade or vacate the two cities for good.

AFRICAN EXAMINER reports that this is one of the many resolutions from the meeting of the State Executive Council held Tuesday, May 22, 2018.

The ultimatum according to the State is part of the overall strategy adopted by the administration to deepen its crackdown on crime and restore sanity to Onitsha and Awka.

Similarly, residents of some make-shift structures on the banks of the River Niger stretching from Onitsha to Ogbaru have also been given until August 1, 2018 to relocate from those places along the waterfront as they have been marked for demolition.

This is also a part of the campaign against the men of the underworld in the state.

The deadline given to Okada operators and the shanty-dwellers are intended to offer them enough time to make the necessary adjustments in order to fit into the emerging socio-cultural scenario in the state.

Other far ranging resolutions of the Council included the establishment of a Committee on Environment with a mandate to clean up the State, clearing out garbage dumps and overflowing drainages and demolishing illegal structures that are either obstructing the way or affecting the aesthetics of the state environment.

The committee is expected to sustain the on-going campaign to put an end to roadside trading that often leads to avoidable traffic congestion and return sanity to the roads and highways of Anambra State.

Re-inforcing the hard line posture of his administration against street-trading and erection of illegal structures across the state, Governor Obiano specifically commended the agencies behind the on-going demolition exercise in the state.

He urged them to sustain the momentum until the state begins to wear a better look.

He also sent a note of warning to owners of illegal structures along the famous Awka Road in Onitsha, hinting that very soon, the demolition team would sweep through the area.

The Governor frowned at the current practice by Awka residents who sometimes dump their waste bins right in the middle of Zik Avenue and warned that anyone caught doing that would pay a heavy penalty.

Obiano further announced that important public places like the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre WDC, Alex Ekwueme Square and the vast premises of the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) would soon be given a facelift and properly remodelled to fit into the dynamics of the day.

He hinted that the Amphitheatre of the Dora Akunyili WDC would be re-designed to serve as a stadium and completed as soon as possible.