The family of a petty trader who fell into an open drainage in Uyo a forthnight ago has appealed to Akwa Ibom Government to help recover the corpse.
They have also called on the state government to cover up drainages opened in the area during sanitation exercise, and others, including a major carnage opened during the purported search for madam Okpon’s corpse.
Recall that Madam Ekaette Okpon, a petty trader, mistakenly stepped into an open gutter during a heavy rain and efforts by onlookers to rescue the drowning woman failed as the speed of waters swept her off.
In reacting to the sad incident, members of her immediate community on Thursday March 10 blocked the Nkemba axis of Abak road and demanded, among other things ; an immediate recovery of the corpse and replacement of slaps on the gutters.
To return normalcy to the major street, Ministry of Environment and the Akwa Ibom State Environmental and Waste Management Agency, mobilized for search, with heavy machines and equipment.
State Commissioner for Environment, Mr Charles Udoh who spent the entire day at the scene of the incident assured that necessary measures were being taken to recover the corpse while Mr Prince Ikim, Chairman of the agency directly in charge of waste management, when contacted, assured that efforts were in place to recover the corpse.
Two weeks down the line, and with Madam Okpon’s corpse still hanging in the drainage, the family has expressed concerns that the search was not just abandoned after the initial effort, but that the gutters were still left open.
Speaking with newsmen who visited the deceased family house in Uyo yesterday, the Secretary of Nnung Udo Uweme family, Mr Otobong Okpon said the family had expected the state government to promptly cover the drainages to forestall a repeat of such occurrence.
“The Agency asked what the family and community needed, we asked that the woman’s corpse be recovered for proper burial, and that the gutters should be desilted up to Michael Abraham and the slaps covered to avoid future occurrences.
“On Sunday, they sneaked in and evacuated those machines. On Monday we called to find out why that was so, they told us the machines were rented from NigerPet, not from the Ministry or Agency.
“So we called the family head, village head, youth president, we put heads together and decided to send a letter, inviting the state government to come and have a discussion with us, prominent on our demands was that we needed the corpse recovered for proper burial.
“We also requested that the gutters be desilted upto the big drainage at Nkemba Trough and all the slaps covered back to forestall future occurrences. We fixed the meeting last Friday 10am at Iboko village hall (Civic Center Abak Road by Ukana Offort traffic light) the agency called to acknowledge receipt of the letter but told us the Chairman had travelled to Abuja, so the meeting was postponed to Tuesday”. He explained.
Meanwhile other petty traders by Ikemba junction have appealed to the government of Akwa Ibom State to promptly cover up the gutters and the major gauge opened during the search, maintaining that the shoddy approach to the situation was rather endangering the lives of others within the locality.
Mr Iniobong Akpan who also spoke on the matter advised the state government to engage a drone if it truly desire to recover the corpse.
“If the victim was a politician’s mother, mother in-law, wife or relative, i bet you the corpse would have since been recovered. But look at how they immediately abandon the search. Ride a drone around the ravine where the gutters terminate, and you would at least be able to recover the corpse.” Akpan said
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