Columns/Opinions/Letters

The Julius Berger Effect in Abia: Why Quality Infrastructure Is the New Political Currency In a nation where road construction has historically served as a coded language for rent-seeking, inflated contracts, and premature collapse, Abia State’s insistence on Julius Berger is not merely an engineering decision—it is a philosophical reset. It signals a government that understands that reputation, not rhetoric, now builds economies. For the first time in decades, Abians are witnessing infrastructure designed to last, not to fail; infrastructure awarded on competence, not political patronage; infrastructure built to German standards, not patched with cosmetic asphalt that dissolves after the…

*WHAT IF GOV. OTTI IS WRONG? A Question That Falls Apart the Moment the Facts Arrive* Every political era has its favourite question, and in Abia today, the provocation of choice seems to be: “What if Gov. Otti is wrong?”It is a beautifully dramatic question—until one places it beside actual history, verifiable data, and the sobering memory of what Abia truly was before May 2023. Then the question disintegrates into dust. To ask whether Otti is wrong, one must first recall what he inherited. Between 2015 and 2023, salary arrears mounted across institutions like a national embarrassment. Abia Poly, Absu…