My Neighborhood Watch #45 - Reporting Events Around us

I’m just here sitting and thinking. If each of us has the power to choose the country we want to be born in or the family we want to be with, many of us would have chosen differently. As a person, I don’t think I would be Nigerian. Probably, I’d be an American citizen, chilling with two of my favorite actors, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, and living a good life.

The Indorama petrochemical at Eleme axis of the East-West road is a popular place in Rivers State. The state of that road is so bad that the youths of Eleme have come out several times to protest by blocking the roads so that no one will pass until the government comes to fix the road. All the time, there are always series of accidents along that road. Either a truck is tumbling and falling on smaller cars, killing people, or some careless drivers who don’t see well at night have fallen into the canal around there.

The last time I could remember the federal government grading the road was for the burial of the former First Lady’s mother, Patience Jonathan. It was just a temporary work filled with sand and gravel. The traffic there is really bad as a result of the bad road. Sometimes when we are stuck in traffic and we are close to a tanker or truck, I get scared because of the position of their vehicle. You would think they can tumble and fall on your car at any moment. That’s the reason I prefer using the river to go to my village rather than that road.

On Friday 26th, there was a ghastly motor accident involving a big tanker loaded with fuel around that area. Casualties were really burnt bad, and there was loss of lives. Due to the traffic jam around the area, cars burnt were more than 60.

The annoying part of everything was that it took firefighters almost 3 hours plus before they got to the scene that night. Even the ones that managed to come, the fire overpowered them, and they had to wait for more firefighters to join them. Cars and properties were just been destroyed, and nothing could be done to control the flames.

I heard the state governor was around to visit the scene of the accident and pay condolences to the victims who lost their lives. That’s what brought me out that Saturday morning. I’ve not seen him before, and this was actually my first time seeing him in person. I even saw some few dead bodies covered with leaves along the roadside. The sight of the scene was terrible. Even till Saturday morning, cars were still burning, although the fire was little.

Well, that’s what I have for us today on my neighborhood watch in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

I will be inviting @lovelystar and @diary-of-ima for this challenge.