Dr Raphael James, the Director, Center for Research, Information Management and Media Development, Lagos has advocated that the Imo State government should construct a bridge over Oguta lake. Over ten years after TheNEWS travelled by boat on the lake to Oguta Two (there are Ogutas one and two), boat is still the means of transportation over the body of water and it is dangerous for travelers.
In the words of James: “People still use boats to cross, as you can see in this photo, the boat is moving cars from one village to the other, it is quite pathetic in this age of government spending millions every day.”
As he put it on social media: “Today, I visited Oguta Blue Lake, also known as “Ogbuide” or “Uhamiri” in Imo State.” He narrated that it is the second largest Lake in Nigeria. Oguta was one of the first territories used by the British to advance into the Igbo hinterland. In the colonial era, the Oguta Lake was a port for the evacuation of palm products. The relics of the jetties used by the United African Company (U. A. C.) still exist today. During the civil war, it was a marine base for the Biafran Navy. It has no crocodiles, it is not salty, but has a high diversity of phytoplankton community – it contains as many as 258 species. The lake is of immense value to the people of Oguta, Orsu, Nkwesi and Awo. In fact, the lake is the identity and pride of the Oguta man. They draw their water from it, they obtain about 80 per cent of their protein from it and the local people also dredge the lake for sand which is used for the construction industry.
According to another commentator, Nduka Ozeh, the city of Oguta is divided into two townships, Oguta 1 and Oguta 2, separated by its popular lake. He added that it has a huge oil and gas deposit known as the “Golden Belt”, “It has a history that traces their forefathers to the great Benin kingdom under the rule of the Oba and their traditional attires tells a lot of their rich culture.”
These posts also attracted more reminiscences.
According to Mustapha Ogunsakin, a journalist and media consultant: “How times fly. I used to cross this lake from Osuobodo in the local canoes shown here. They were usually paddled by very old women who remind you of the Gagool, a female character in Sir H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines. The old women would firmly warn you to sit firm if you don’t want to get drowned. It was such a beautiful lake. At the bank in the Oguta Lake Golf Course, the lake is the only link in those days to the headquarters of the local government at Egbema. It used to be Ohaji/Egbema /Oguta LG. As at 1990, it was only Oguta that had electricity in the whole of the LG. I enjoyed my stay at Oguta1.The home town of Prof Ikenna Nzimiro, in whose company, Zim Pan African Publishers, I served my primary assignment during my Youth Service. I was privileged to meet Hon Justice Chkwudifu Oguta who just retired then as Justice of the Supreme Court.”
He added that Chief Gogo Nwakuche’s country home has a river that flows across it that reminds you of the stream in the Garden of Eden. “We used to go there and swim. And of course one remembers Nkpu Udo, the palatial mansion of Chief Arthur Nzeribe be built on a hill on the road from Mgbidi. It was in these serene community that I cut my teeth in writing. I salute the Ogbuide people.”
According to TheNEWS’ Ademola Adegbamigbe: “Government should, by now, build a bridge across Oguta Lake. There was a day I was travelling to the other side to visit the primary school attended by former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili. We were doing a research on him for publication. The village is close to Oguta Two. Part of that area is now in Rivers while a part is still Imo. Our outboard engine stopped mid-stream. Our boat, therefore could not go front or back. Since I could not swim, I started searching my heart if there were some sins I was still committing so that I could confess them to make heaven! On a more serious note, I was scared. It was the navigator of a boat returning from Oguta Two that reported our plight at Oguta One before a new outboard engine was brought to power our boat to the other side. I will still learn how to swim.
While Ogunsakin agreed that government should build a bridge across the lake, his only worry is what the bridge can do to the serenity and aesthetics of the lake. However, he admitted that human safety should take priority over aesthetics. He narrated a tragedy: “One of my sad moments at Oguta was the day a Corp member got drowned in the lake. The guy was posted to Osuobodo at Oguta Two and was crossing the lake in one of those rickety canoes I described earlier. Unfortunately the canoe capsized. He was from Ondo State and the lot fell on those of us from the same state to accompany his corpse home. It was an unpleasant experience for me.”
James still insisted though that a bridge is necessary because it will not affect the serenity and aesthetics of the lake. “You know it is wide, the bridge will be in a section of the lake, far from the area that is used for recreation, so that the use of canoes like this ones will be strictly for the fun of it” And James added a humorous note to TheNEWS: “But let me ask Adegbamigbe, “when u searched your heart, what was the outcome, please tell us.”