Iyiokwulu Fishing Festival: Community Leaders Beg Anambra Govt to Build Access Road

By Daniel Obagha

Community leaders of Umuonuorah of Mmiata Anam in Anambra West Local Government Area have appealed to the Anambra State Government lead by Prof Chukwuma Soludo to come and construct a good road that will lead to their fishing lake, Iyiokwulu.

In separate interviews , during the fishing festival of the Iyiokwulu on Friday, the community leaders unanimously said that a good road was the most important thing needed to evacuate many fishes that were killed during the fishing expedition.

Chairman of Umuonuorah Development Union (UDU), Ogbuevi Augustine Okafor said: ‘‘we have the largest land mass in Anambra West Local Government. No other community comes close. We have boundaries with Kogi State.

‘‘ So government needs to come and help us with good road so that our people will not only easily evacuate the fishes killed here but also evacuate all the farm produce that are produced here every year”.

Chairman of Umuowanuno who were in charge of Umuonuorah forests and Iyiokwulu lake, Ogbuevi Hicent Nnaluo, thanked God for bumper harvest of fish in this year’s fishing expedition.

“The volume of fishes killed in this year’s fishing festival is massive. It is bigger than last year’s own.

“ But our problem is how to convey the fish from this forest to city centre. So we desperately need government to come to our rescue and construct good roads that will help to evacuate these fishes”, he said.

All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) chieftain in the local government, Ogbuevi Emeka Ikwogbuo called on Gov Soludo to remember Mmiata Anam and construct road for them. “This road leads to Abuja. So we call on Gov soludo to come and help us”, he appealed.

Prof Obiajuru Okonkwo, a Professor of International Law at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, who hails from the community, emphasized that the Iyiokwulu lake was important to the state government. He said that the nearest community to the lake was in Kogi State.

“So why it is very significant not only to our people but to the state is that it is the shortest route to Abuja. It takes us an hour on a rough road to reach here from our town. So if from Mmiata Anam to Onitsha is about 20 minutes, from Mmiata to this place is about one hour on a very bad road.

“And our people have been exercising rights of ownership here securing it for the government. We went into litigation over this land before independence. We have judgements in 1920s that granted ownership and title of this area to us.

“So this is a massive land. Here we are is just Iyiokwulu. We have Ideh, Eziakpaligwe, Okpunika etc . And it is our ancestors that secured them for them”, he explained.

Prof Okonkwo called on government to come and show signs of presence and develoment that they have massive land here before Kogi State will over power Umuonuora people and take the land and all the mineral resources in it.

Okonkwo stated that the land was very massive that it was bigger than three local government put together in Anambra State.

Iyiokwulu fishing festival is an annual event when the people of Umuonuora in Mmiata Anam come on a scheduled date to harvest fishes in the lake. There was bumper harvest in this year’s festival.

• Culled ffrom Anambra Ministry of Information