The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo has vowed to clean and rid Upper Iweka, Onitsha of touts and illegal structures.
The governor stated this following the presence of legion of touts (Agberos) which had bred various degrees of crime, lawlessness, drug peddling activities, pocket picking, robbery and other vices.
Irked by the situation, the governor quipped,”If you must remain in Anambra, you must be gainfully employed. If you are jobless, enroll in the one -youth -two skills to be empowered. Those who completed the pilot phase will be empowered very soon.”
Soludo stated this when he paid an unscheduled visit to Upper Iweka, Onitsha, reassuring the people of the sstate of cleaning up Iweka Road.
The governor maintained that there were strict rules for motor parks administrators if they would want to operate, pointing out that all vehicles must operate within the garages, not loading on the established walkways.
He warned that any garage that failed to comply with the directive would be locked up, assuring that Upper Iweka would no longer be a den for touts and criminals.
He said,“From Moore street-Iweka road through Ochanja, down to Owerri road we are fixing and cleaning up the area to make it clean. All petty traders along the road will be relocated to Oduigbo and Ogbaru.”
He decried how the transport buses blocked the drainages, ordering them to leave the spots and start loading inside their respective parks.
The Governor stressed that the disorderliness and lawlessness in Onitsha was driving away customers who intend to come from far away to trade in the state and warned criminal elements perpetrating illegality and criminality in the state to leave or face the full weight of the law.
