Why Asaba Is Gradually Becoming A Major Satellite Town To Onitsha

CHINEDU NWONU 

Pre -2000, travelling to Anwai-Asaba every Sunday evening was a ritual. With the hot fish perpersoup and palmwine, the village setting offered a very serene and welcoming allure that held most spending Onitsha residents bound for years.

Relative to the slum of goat sellers, dirt and confusion at the Onitsha Bridgehead end, the weekly gateaway was only logical.

Before long, conversations around cheap land purchase in Anwai, Okpanam, Ibuzo and its environs joined and many of us keyed in speedily. Unorganised real estate business started. Those who built immediately gained but most of us that delayed lost the properties to grabbers dubious indigenes.

Coupled with its robust hospitality with night life and the gradual but intentional development of Asaba with Ibori and Uduaghan’s oil money, and of course, our security challenges, Onitsha residents moved to reside in Asaba in droves.

2012/13, Peter Obi did a massive 8-way-lane construction from Bridgehead to Upper Iweka. Goat sellers were moved away, motor parks, makeshift markets and dirty areas were fenced off/in.

Overnight, Asaba appeared the slum while till date, Onitsha end of the Bridgehead developed a clear edge in urban ambience.

The place of Onitsha trading business volumes cannot be challenged. The potential is even more humongous.

As a banker then and seconded as a committee member of the then proposed Anambra State Housing Insurance scheme and working with APLUC in 2010, Nkwelle Ezunaka was designated as the fastest developing area in Anambra State if not South East.

It is surprising that there has not been a deliberate plan to map out a disciplined urban planning to connect that axis to Umueri airport for a whole new clean city to emerge.

Asaba is gradually becoming a major satellite town to Onitsha.

The whole of Nteje, Umunya, Oba, Atani, Aguleri and Awkuzu should represent our own satelite towns just like Surulere, Okoko and Ketu to Lagos, so that daily, residents travel to Onitsha for businesses.
That way, just like Lagos Island, Onitsha is designated a business metropolis, residentially decongested and effectively merges with Awka in 15 years.

A new well-planned Onitsha metropolis should be aggressively pursued. Major parts of Awada, Nkpor, Mgbuka, etc are slums today because of delayed actions to enforce building discipline.

Thankfully, the private sector is taking the lead in real estate development. Road infrastructure by government should add to their efforts and the fear of Asaba will dissappear.

The time to act is now!

Chinedu Nwonu
President
Onitsha Chamber of Commerce