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19.09.2014 Opinion

Gov. Orji: Don’t Channel The Woes Of Aba Environment To The Federal Government

By Rubby Obinna
Gov. Orji: Dont Channel The Woes Of Aba Environment To The Federal Government
19.09.2014 LISTEN

I'm very glad reading on the pages of newspapers that the Abia State Government has partnered with a reputable agency like the African Development Bank, ADB, to stem the menace of infrastructural chaos that Aba, a place once known for its commercial activities, has become.

My view in writing this treatise is not to criticize the government, but to bring up some points that it perhaps, had forgotten, to bay. I was grateful that Governor Theodore Orji admitted that Aba is a rot of itself, even though that he exonerated himself from being entangled in the problems of the city, saying: “Aba is a problem; it has been a problem, not now that I am governor. Aba problems made former Governor Mbakwe in old Imo State to be tagged a weeping governor. That problem has been there.”


The governor later added, “We are doing a lot in Aba, based on our resources. Even if we put all our resources in Aba it cannot solve the problems. The state cannot solve the problems alone, that is why we welcome you to come and help us. We will do our best; we will cooperate with you and give the technical team you need.”

I'm finding it hard to believe that a governor who was screened and voted for said the above. If the government had put in a lot of resources in the state and even if it puts all the resource that it has and yet the city would not work, why tell us that there are developments ongoing in the state. The statement by the governor shows some degree of inefficiency.

And the irony of the matter is that such rather inane statement was made before dignitaries like the Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Ojkonjo-Iweala, when she led a delegation of ADB to the state recently.

Even though that we were told that partnership becomes necessary in a situation where the governor had told us that the money he had invested in Aba went into the drain pipes, how are we sure that the partnership this time will work.


However, I'm not too bothered about the governor's tactless comment, but concerned about the intention of which the ADB, of which according to the Country Director of ADB, Usman Dore, is for the proposition to integrate project to tackle rural roads, erosion threat and waste management in the two Abia cities of Aba and Umuahia.

All of these are coming after the billionaire Prince Arthur Eze cautioned the state government that Aba stinks. It is obviously essential to say that the government should not channel the woes of Aba environment to the federal government. Apart from the Enugu/PH expressways, which the federal government has left to the fate of the people of South-South and South-East zones, there are interim roads in the state that do not require the Prince Ezes of this world to remind the government that they do not only stink, but dead a long time and the smell has fizzled away thereby making the authorities think the people are living well in those areas, when the reason is that the people have grown thin-skin and taken the fate they can't change the way it is.


I'm sure that now the governor has partnered with the ADB, streets and communities like Ariaria market in the commercial city of Aba to Osisioma community, about one kilometer away, Ngwa Road, by Ohanku, Asa road by St. Michaels, Asa Road by Millerton, Dear John junction by 7UP Ogbor Hill, Ngwa Road by Asa, Obohia Road, off Ngwa Road, Port-Harcourt Road and other streets and communities in and out of the Aba town will work again.

Yes, partnership is very essential, but for the governor to tell us that he was finding it difficult to rebuild Aba puts his leadership quotient into serious scrutiny. What I had expected from the governor was to intimate us of how to decongest Aba and, not how he cannot rebuild it.


When Gov. Orji entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with a private development company, Acroideation International Limited, my expectation was that the partnership wasn't just for the said construction of ultra modern workshops and warehouses in about 200 hectares of land to be structured, operate and manage basis for 35 years, but to also rebuild Aba.

This mindset was also missed when the project known as Abia International Industrial City (ABIIC), which was also expected to gulp $1billion, approximately N160 billion with an estimated 200,000 jobs to be created in the process, was instituted. I had thought that respite had come the way of Aba, but here we are hearing about another partnership with ADB.

It could be recalled that the government in Umuahia had been in what analysts described as, high level talks with various organisations, some of which include the Bank of Industry (BOI), United Nations Development Agency (UNIDO), Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Industrial Promotion Council (NIPC), Ministries of Trade and Investment as well as that of Labour and Productivity to see how they could be factored into making the project of Aba a success. But this is a case of too many words without a commensurate action.

Rubby Obinna writes from Ohaji, Imo State.

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