“There is no better time to be proud of homeland Abia than now, irrespective of our challenges and deficit, Abia today under the leadership of the Alex Otti led Labour party government is by far at 99% positioned to lead in South East Economic and Environmental revolution”
By Njoku SaintJerry A.
In the coming days all road leading to the south east will be busy with traffic of people and goods heading home to celebrate Christmas with long seen loved ones. Most notably will be the traffic to Aba in Abia state.
Abia State has been in the spotlight since the emergence of the Alex Otti Labour Party led government moving from the rung of the ladder to the top of every developmental index ranging from education, infrastructure, economy and people oriented governance.
Aba, fondly referred to as the Enymba city has served as the take off point of the journey to the ‘New Abia’, a phrase adopted by the Otti’s government signifying a departure from the old systemic rot and backward status the region had suffered in the past under myopic state actors that muddled governance in the region for over 2 decades.
Aba has served as a transit hub connecting to about 7 Southeastern region that heavily depend on the commercial activities of the city to drive their own internal economies, more so, the journey to the adjoining 17 LGA’s in the state begins here.
Despite the great role the city has played in shaping the South East economy, this region was abysmally neglected and abandoned to rot in the hands of political state actors that held sway for all those decades of political manipulation and witchcraft until the people revolted through the ballot box under the Labour party led revolution that produced Governor Alex Otti as the man to upturn the table of filth and underdevelopment that once pervaded the entire region.
Perhaps it was an act of ignorance or sheer irresponsibility by those entrusted with the responsibility to govern, the negligence was so magnified that it literally scared visitors and indigenes away from homeland. Some left to other cities to never return while others embarked upon self exile and never to have anything to do with Abia again. Such was the shameful situation that may have compelled indigenes to run away from homes till date.
Today, that sordid sight of yesterday is gone, Those mountains of garbage has disappeared and a modernized and improved Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) reengineered to sustain a legacy of cleanliness and organized city aesthetics that the Alex Otti government has introduced into the New Abia.
In the city of Aba alone, about 200 road networks has been remodelled, asphalted and lined up at both corners with solar powered street lights, the same applies to adjoining towns, an evidence of the “Light Up Abia Project” of the Alex Otti administration.
For those that will be visiting Umuahia the old capital city that was once left in darkness and scary to visit once it is 7.00pm, that façade of shame and dirt is gone for a cleaned city, albeit under reconstruction, you will be very pleased to return home and greeted with a new capital city illuminated and completely reorganized for commerce and culture.
Of all the numerous laudable projects embarked upon by the Alex Otti administration, one of the most remarkable and engaging would be the development agencies distributed across the three senatorial zones of Abia North with the Greater Ohafia Development Authority (GODA), Abia South, with the Greater Aba Developmental Authority (GADA) and Abia Central with the Umuahia Capital Developmental Authority (UCDA).
This has regionalized and internalized the reconstruction process of the New Abia embarked upon by the Alex Otti administration and has created a homemade access to governance. This time, every indigene will have no excuse not to be engaged in building a sustainable legacy of development that will be happening in your homeland, right from your community, in your lifetime.
In a statement issued at a recent church event in Aba, H.E. the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti declared; “those who stay and watch things go wrong and do nothing are either cowards or conspirators, that is why we offered ourselves to serve” – a blank invitation to every holiday maker and indigenes to join hands and make the New Abia a permanent reality.
As a onetime Diaspora leader and now active in the local politics of the state, I have witnessed a positive diversion from the past where energies are dissipated pursuing relationship with the state government from Umuahia that often ends up in ‘Photo Ops’ with members of the cabinet until Diaspora members are frustrated and depart the state with their ideas stiffened under the old systemic bureaucratic negligence.
The regional Development Agencies set up by the Alex Otti administration has completely solved that age old challenges of extending infrastructural and economic development to the adjoining towns within the state and this calls for full participation of our visiting family members, friends and returnees to key into the government programmes from your regions, your community or villages and join the Alex Otti government to build an enduring legacy of a New Abia of a brighter future for all.
More so, there is no better time to be proud of homeland Abia than now, irrespective of our challenges and deficit, Abia today under the leadership of the Alex Otti led Labour party government is by far at 99% positioned to lead in South East Economic recovery plan and Environmental revolution that is certain to grow more foods to boost our farmlands, build more facilities for local industries and basic amenities that should compel every indigene and visitors to consider full relocation to the only ‘God’s own State’ south east Nigeria.
I welcome you to the New Abia, I wish you a wonderful and fulfilling homecoming!
Njoku SaintJerry A. is the State Publicity Secretary of Labour Party, Abia, He writes from Umuahia
