About Nnewi
Nnewi is a rural/semi urban community in Anambra State, one of the
southeastern states of Nigeria. It is located east of river Niger
and about 22km southeast of Onitsha (see map).
It lies on longitude 6.92 degrees East and latitude 6.03 degrees
North. This places it right in the middle heartland of the Igbo tribe
(one of the three main tribes of Nigeria).
It has a land area of about 64 square kilometres and an estimated population
of 180,000 at the end of year 2002.
Though the native language is Igbo, the official
language is English. The vast majority of Nnewi people are devoted
Christians. The erstwhile
Biafran leader Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu hails from Nnewi
and hence she had to carry a severe burden during the civil conflict
(from 1967 to 1970).
There are no available specific data on Nnewi hence
the use of Nigerian data sourced from the CIA World Factbook publications
and nationmaster.com.
(see Nnewi Fact file).
We do however believe that Nnewi data would be far worse than the
Nigerian average given the pervading level of deprivation, neglect
and poverty within its boundaries.
It is undoubtedly among the most disadvantaged parts of Nigeria
with worsening prospects and outlook. The Nnewi / UK factfile comparism
is very revealing.
Albeit Nnewi town is deprived of basic social and
physical infrastructure, its people are peace loving, welcoming and
hardworking. They are very stoical and would fashion various ingenious
ways of circumventing their deprivation and hardship. Though for
a large number of its people, life is a matter of day-to-day survival,
they still remarkably manage to exude confidence and happiness.
Soil degradation and erosion are very huge problems
threatening many lives and livelihood as a result of significant
loss of arable land. Recent rapid population growth and indiscriminate
locating of small scale industries have contributed in no small measures
to deforestation and worsening water, air and soil pollution. Lack
of adequate physical planning that should take into consideration
existing flood plains is a major contributory factor to the current
situation. Recently a nigerian newspaper reports as below :-
( NNEWI A DISASTER AREA )
Erosion sacks 25 families:-----
At least 10 communities in Nnewi North local government area of Anambra State are facing severe erosion threat. Already, over 25 families, mainly from Nnewichi village have been displaced by erosion and several other homes are under severe threat of being washed away. The erosion gully measuring well over 72 feet deep and covers over 5 kilometres distance has also cut off the Nnewi community from their neighbours like Nnobi. The old Nnewi-Nnobi road has been taken over by the erosion.
According to the communities which had in the past made several communal effort to fight the erosion, the level of the menace is now very much above their capacity. They estimate that no less than N10 billion would be required to fight the erosion at its level.
ELECTRICITY
This is either largely basic or non-existent. A
large part of this community is yet to be electrified including many
schools and hospitals and for the electrified parts, protracted power
outage is the norm. As a result of this erratic power supply private
generator is paramount for those who can afford it. The overall effect
unfortunately is economic strangulation.
ROADS
There is a distinct lack of decent road network.
The existing roads are mostly communally built feeder roads and,
due to perennial neglect and unchecked effect of erosion, are impassable
in most part. The few existing tarred roads are in a terrible state
due to poor maintenance.
WATER
Nnewi has no pipe borne water supply making water
shortage perennially very acute. Water sourced from commercially
owned boreholes is bought at a premium from water tankers. Collection
of rainwater and fetching from streams is the affordable option for
the poorest in the community.
TELECOMUNICATION
Telephone is virtually unaffordable for most people.
The few existing lines are very old, poorly maintained and unreliable.
The recently introduced global system of mobile telecommunication
is scandalously so expensive to own and run that only but a few privileged
ones can afford it and even for those, the services provided by the
networks are very poor and epileptic.
Nnewi has one motherless babies’ home. This
was donated by the Red Cross and serves as a home for motherless
babies from Nnewi and far beyond. It is a home at any given time
for more than eight unfortunate children up to four years of age.
A recent visit revealed a desperately under-funded and poorly maintained
institution. Basic house hold items like mattresses, beddings, blankets,
towels and toiletries were lacking and the food store completely
empty. They are currently appealing for assistance in these areas
and have for sometime now been dependent on private donations for
survival.
There are no public recreational facilities for
the people. Public parks and playground are not in existence leaving
the youths poorly engaged out of school hours.
Overall quality of healthcare is extremely poor. There is no centrally
or insurance funded healthcare system. People consequently have to
pay for what healthcare they require, leaving the vast majority dependent
on native doctors, quacks and patent medicine dealers for healthcare.
There is one communally built teaching hospital (serving the entire
Anambra state with a population of about 3 million) and a number
of small privately owned hospitals and maternities.
These are invariably poorly staffed and equipped with the result
that, even for the privileged, the quality of care leaves much to
be desired. The growing level of poverty coupled with environmental
pollution has impacted adversely on the people’s health.
Life expectancy has fallen significantly in recent
times as a result of under treatment and poor management of chronic
diseases like hypertension,
diabetes, asthma and angina. Additionally, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,
malnutrition, chloroquine resistant malaria and trauma have contributed
to the fall in life expectancy.
Overall level of literacy is still very poor or at 57% with no prospect
of improvement. Education even at primary level is not free. Consequently
a large number of children are denied this basic need but rather
deployed by parents/carers in hawking and manual labour in order
to make ends meet.
Parents who can afford it send their children to private nursery,
primary and secondary schools leaving the majority in the derelict
communally built under funded government schools. These schools have
most of their buildings in a state of near collapse or disrepair.
Class sizes are very large and the staff lack motivation and are
demoralised. In fact, one whole academic year was lost to teachers’ strike
due to unpaid wages in 2002.
There are about 43 government primary and 6 government secondary
schools. These schools are grossly under funded and in desperate
need of aid. Though the pupils are highly disciplined and eager to
learn the quality of education they receive is very poor due to poor
staffing and equipment level.
This mirrors the Nigerian economy. Inflation runs
at double figures (14.2% in 2002). Unemployment is very high at more
than 28%. More than 60% of the population is below poverty line and
more than 70% live on less than $1 per day. The continuing loss of
arable land and youth urban migration has left the community unable
to feed itself, as the age long dependable self-subsistence agricultural
sector continues to contract.
The gap between the rich and the poor is probably
wider than in any part of the world
There is a thriving central market. The people are
business oriented and are renowned for their enterprise and entrepreneurial
culture with the result that recently there has been a spate of small-scale
industries indiscriminately sited in the community, providing some
much needed employment. The unfortunate trade-off of this being wanton
environmental pollution due to unregulated poor waste disposal.
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