DR. ALEX OTTI PUSHING THE FRONTIERS OF DEVELOPMENT AMIDST OPPOSITION VOODOOISM.
Everyday now comes with soundbites and optics of new initiatives and projects of Dr. Alex Otti ricocheting across the nooks and crannies of Abia State with metastatic relish.
From Abia south in Ukwa to Abia North in Arochukwu, it is endless celebrations of new initiatives, new ideas, new projects and new ambience being captioned under the New Abia rebranding landscape.
Alex Otti has no doubt overstretched the imagination of good governance templates and its endless possibilities to inspire a brutalized, demoralized and dehumanized people who endured wicked leadership for 24 straight years. Alex Otti is dazzling with Abia today and no one is capable of taking the shine away for now.
I remember vividly discussing with governor Alex Otti at the outset of his administration, just few months following his Inauguration, concerning opposition virulent distractions and dirty plots meant to vehemently hoodwink unsuspecting Abia people with disinformation and rabid falsehood calculated to derail his good intentions for the people and the need for his government to counter those evil plots.
But Alex Otti’s simple response to me then was that he would answer the opposition with track records of projects, development, good and transparent leadership.
Looking back today, those outlined strategies to fight back opposition dirty tactics has proved unassailable and indeed with overwhelming pushback against them. Dr. Alex Otti has so far, spoken very loudly with projects, equitable development and fairness in all ramifications. No one or zone or area is left behind today.
We celebrated few days ago, the icing of the urban renewal reset of Umuahia town with an iconic six lane, 3km road infrastructure masterpiece that completely changed the ambience and hitherto village status of Umuahia. We can now refer to Umuahia as a small town.
A lot will still have to be done to change the status of Umuahia to a modern town before migrating to a City or metropolis. Alex Otti is wearing his thinking cap and right on top of the cruise to make Umuahia a destination city of tourists attraction. It is doable and he’s doing it as a modern transport terminal park structure is being conceptualized to receive the six lane road infrastructure at the city center that was formerly privatized to an individual but now revoked to be used for public interest.
But we should not forget that two previous administrations in Abia State wrote off a whopping N6 Billion Naira constructing the road from Umuahia tower through Ossah to Okpara Square by giving us a miserable one lane demarcated into two halves lanes whereupon they shamelessly maintained their long convoys of motorcade acquired with public fund.
Alex Otti’s thinking cap is showing them how to dream big and dream better with his well conceptualized urban renewal dual carriage Boulevard now renamed Aguiyi Ironsi Boulevard. A new terminal building to replace the former Trademoor Estate will dorn the landscape. This development will surely be a chart buster. Thank you Dr. Alex Otti for a job well done.
Alex Otti’s caterpillar revolution had besieged Aba town since his Inauguration as governor to bring hope to Aba residents. Today, Ohanku, Obohia, Ehi road, Erondu and other deplorable unmotorable locations in the Enyimba City are receiving attention. No stone will be left unturned in fixing the commercial city of Aba.
Previous governments especially the just passed Ikpeazu government were busy shedding crocodile tears for Aba residents over the deplorable state of their roads without taking proactive action. Ikpeazu instead of rebuilding Aba as was expected of an Aba brought up like him was busy creating land grabbers and community land owners who terrorized residents and claimed Aba belonged to them.
He left the real thing and was busy feasting and serenading with touts until his 8 years tenure elapsed. He even mocked Aba women Christian group who went to cry to God of redemption to redeem the ruined Portharcourt Road.
But today, after Dr. Alex Otti’s audacious intervention at Portharcourt Road with Julius Berger, his urchins are claiming they constructed Portharcourt Road up to 60 percent before handing over to Alex Otti. The God of those Aba christian women he humiliated and flogged for praying over the deplorable condition of Portharcourt Road that was then turned to heaps of refuse will strip him naked. Ikpeazu will be celebrated by posterity among the odious as the worst governor ever to have governed any state in Nigeria’s history.
As the caterpillar revolution of Alex Otti is being celebrated with such construction giants like Julius Berger, Craneburg, CCEC, and others, and with signature projects rising across all locations in Abia including the Umuahia to Ohafia and to Arochukwu 100 km road infrastructure project, Alex Otti and Abia will book its well deserved position in the nation’s infrastructure map.
There’s another road link project from Ozu Abam to Amuvi Arochukwu to ensure no part of Abia State is cut off again because of inaccessibility of road. This road is expected to be completed and commissioned in twelve calendar months. A new gateway is also being constructed from Item in Bende to Akaeze in Ebonyi state. This will reduce the travel time by commuters from Abia North to Enugu by at least 30 percent.
Alex Otti’s good governance trajectories is paying off with many teams of investors coming in droves to meet him for investment opportunities. The latest being the team that came to offer Southeast University to Abia State which he gleefully cited at Arochukwu. This is engineering economics at its best which I understand to be econometrics in layman’s language. Only with Alex Otti.
A Southeast University in Arochukwu is without doubt pushing the frontiers of development in that subregion beyond the glass ceiling. This will unarguably open the Arochukwu Ohafia conclave to external development opportunities. What I aptly captioned as engineering economics earlier. Do the rest of the calculations.
We also have gleaned from the grapevine that he’s started reaching out to Ohafia community hosting the Hope Waddell University to settle the rift that caused the delay in the take off of the University in Ohafia for almost a decade. For Dr. Alex Otti, there’s no stopping any dream from taking place. The sky is always the starting point.
Development has reached every divide in the state in just one year of being in office. Abia people are grateful and very appreciative of the governor’s indubitable track records. Our advice to Governor Alex Otti is not feel distracted by opposition because even the blind can now see clearly the difference between the new and old Abia.
Dr. Engr Odo Ijere
