The old “Omenuko Bridge” – a true reflection of Abia’s dark era
- By Eagle Okoro
The ramshackle, one-lane Igwu River Bridge, nicknamed “Omenuko Bridge”, at Ozu Abam in Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia, God’s Own State, built by the colonial administration more than 70 years ago, has finally, finally become history.
While it lasted, the bridge provided motorists the only means of crossing the Igwu River, where Omenuko – whose real name was Chief Igwegbe Odum, a prominent merchant from Arondizuogu in today’s Imo State – suffered a tragic loss of his goods, hence the bridge was named after him.
The narrow, decrepit facility has served the natives and residents of Abam, Ohafia, and Arochukwu communities from that axis of Old Bende bloc and other people of the South-East and larger Nigeria, who had the need to travel either way across the river.
Over time, the overused facility, having suffered enormous structural depreciation, due to age and weather as well as the wear and tear from the daily vehicular movements, became a death trap to motorists and travellers. And, of course, with today’s technological advancement, such a structure no longer meets the global standard of a bridge for human transportation.
But despite its rickety condition and largescale deterioration over the decades, requiring immediate government intervention, nothing happened since Abia was carved out of the Old Imo State on August 27, 1991.
Successive administrations since the return of civilian administration in 1999 came, saw but failed to seize the opportunity to leave a legacy and good name for themselves with the Omenuko Bridge. And the three governors, who took their turn to misgovern Abia State for eight years, respectively, namely Orji Uzor Kalu, Theodore Ahamefula Orji, and Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, didn’t think that the people of the area deserved anything better. So, they came, saw the bridge and walked away, leaving it the way they met it. Yet, they all boast to have served Abia creditably and wonderfully.
So, the Omenuko Bridge has over the years stood as a relic and true reflection of that awful image and philosophy of the governments of the dark era. And it is wished that government shall deliberately preserve the old structure to continue to serve as an antique and memoriam of 24 years of bad governance in Abia.
The bridge also served as an ugly and sad reminder of the old political order, which was characterised by years of dominance by a set of wicked, conscienceless, insensitive and transactional politicians under one umbrella of the now dead-and-buried Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But something positively incredible and breathtaking happened on February 4, 2025, when Gov. Chioma Alex Otti, with the swagger and confidence of a jinx breaker, led his team of commissioners and aides to officially commission Geld Construction firm to construct a brand new Igwu Bridge with the appurtenances of a modern facility, thus permanently discarding and consigning the old one to the dustbin of history.
In a speech at the ceremony, entitled, “The Omenuko Bridge, another jinx broken“, Gov. Otti said that the bridge would be delivered in nine months.
He further said that, “though the facility is located on a federal road, his administration was committed to working for the people, not minding whether such projects belong to the Federal or State Government”.
It is gratifying to observe that the bridge has been completed and opened to traffic, ahead of its formal inauguration, barely six months after construction commenced.
There is no gain saying the fact, therefore, that the successful construction of a new Igwu Bridge symbolically signalled a glorious end to the dark, unfortunate era, misruled by gold diggers, who became richer after their tenures as governors, leaving the state poorer and grossly undeveloped.
For many decades, travelling through the 69-kilometer Umuahia-Bende-Ohafia-Arochukwu Road was exceptionally nightmarish and scary for motorists and passengers, particularly with the thought of having to ride through the bridge.
