AN SOS TO DR. ALEX OTTI AND THE NEW ABIA GOVERNMENT TO URGENTLY REESTABLISH ROAD LINKS BETWEEN OHAFIA AND AROCHUKWU LGAS.
Let me first felicitate with Abians and congratulate His Excellency, Dr. Alex Otti on the laudable milestones already achieved in 4 months of doing things differently since the departure of Ikpeazu and his gang of thieves.
We have reasonably being witnessing a consistency in infrastructure improvements especially in Aba, the Enyimba city with the addition of three more roads in the list of completed roads projects this week which has taken the total tally in Aba alone to about 7 completed road projects with a total milage of about 30kms coverage in Enyimba city alone. That is considered by me as significant and without sounding immodest a laudable scorecard in just 4 months.
In making this assertion, I am not unmindful of the discordant views of those who expect much more from the New Abia government. However, not a few are worried at the tendency of the government concentrating all developmental activities in Aba while neglecting other geopolitical zones begging for attention.
Abia North and most especially, Arochukwu and Ohafia have not even as much as been mentioned at all for any proposed project not to talk of deployment of logistics to site. This gap should quickly be looked into and corrected immediately because of the political sour taste it leaves in all of us that struggled from Abia North geopolitical zone to change the political narrative in our State.
After 4 months of the New Abia regime, we are forced to ask when will the road linking Ohafia to Arochukwu be started? If Aba roads infrastructure construction can defy the raining season without being disrupted, nothing stops the New Abia government from deploying machineries on the Ohafia Arochukwu road to Kickstart immediate reconstruction works.
The over one million citizens of the area affected by the deplorable state of that Federal road cannot be assuaged by anymore excuses of the road being a Federal jurisdiction.
The contractor on that road, Hartland Construction are just using the road to scam the Nigerian government and particularly our people who bear the brunt of their nefarious actions.
These Lebanese companies doing our roads do not mean well for our people. Most of them are militants living in the bushes of their war infested country but once here, they become emergency contractors and answer engineers. Give them 10 more years, they’ll still be fiddling on the Ohafia Arochukwu road.
They exposed themselves with the recent unannounced field inspection of Federal roads under construction in the Southeast by the new Minister of Works, David Umahi. Hartland deployed their equipment to site overnight and busied themselves along Mmuri Bridge section of the project and quickly demobilized as soon as the Minister left.
They also made sure the Minister did not approach Arochukwu axis of the road project. The stretch between Ndi Uduma Awoke and Ihie, Ututu to Arochukwu is totally cut off from vehicular traffic. The other alternative bypass through Uzu Abam to Okobo to Amuvi in Arochukwu which happens to be a State road is also unmotorable.
This persisting situation in Arochukwu and Ohafia LGAs turned very ugly at the occasion of the burial ceremony of Distinguished Senator Mao Ohuabunwa’s late wife. You saw convoys of motorcade going round about through neighboring states just to access Arochukwu.
We are talking of entire local governments and clans being cut off as compared to some streets and residents in Aba being cut off. Arochukwu and Ohafia are among the most industrious peoples of this country. Arochukwu and Ohafia are among the founders of this Nigeria country.
The neglect and invention of excuses of any nature not to deploy equipment immediately to begin reconstruction of that road link has turned to marginalization of intolerable proportion. Our one million population are yearning to be mobilized to carry out their commercial and industrial enterprises through the enablement of this vital road link.
The people of Arochukwu and Ohafia can no longer wait to see action being taken to reestablish the vital commercial activities that connect our two communities together and beyond to our historical trade routes at Calabar, Ikot Ekpene and Uyo.
Our budget should be allowed to spread around and not be stuck at only Aba. Long Live Abia State.
Dr. Engr Odo Ijere.
