“In an era where it has almost become impossible to balance leadership with responsibilities that are impactful in the society and lives of the people, Gov. Alex Otti has continued to prove reason why the people of Abia should trust his leadership competence to rebuild entire Abia”
By Njoku SaintJerry A.
The recent commissioning of the 46.3 kilometer Umuahia- Uzuakoli down to Abiriba Ohafia road is another landmark achievement for the Otti’s led administration in Abia State.
For about two decades this route that gave boost to economic activities between boundary states like Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom and multiple expanse of farmlands has been abandoned forcing the business of agriculture and logistics for natural resources obtained in this area to seize.
Today the citizens, residents and road users are excited for one thing, business is back, and the government has shown reasons to be trusted with the responsibility of genuine leadership.
Aba -Port Harcourt Road for years gave Abia State the stigma of a region with no responsible political leadership that has the moral courage to stand in for their own people and the environment, Every businesses in that route wounded up including schools and most worrisome, the thriving economic activities between Aba and the city of Port Harcourt and other boundary states seized.
Today that road is near completion by the Otti’s government, both citizens, resident and road users are excited for one thing, business is back and the economic future of citizens and residents in the area well defined under the new administration led by Gov. Alex Otti.
There is a bridge connecting Bende LGA to Arochukwu and Ohafia LGA driving from Umuahia, a less than 100 meter overpass a steep flowing river that often swallowed up entire heights during peak days of the raining seasons.
The Omenuko bridge for over 20 years has served a death trap and has proven it’s scary nomenclature of death trap for decades drowning several citizens and residents returning home including bus load of school children going to take UTME exams.
Several government functionaries have made use of this road and made media promises of mockery palliative works to no avail until the arrival of the Otti’s led administration.
Today construction works on that bridge is near completion with an additional over 20 kilometer road beside, linking the hinterland of rural communities and farmlands in Abam, Arochukwu LGA, being asphalted at the same time.
During the campaigns, we drove through this road bathed and overwhelmed in dust amidst deserted communities that has lost virtually everything that should attract human settlement.
Today, that nightmare is gone with a complete replacement of a brand new community of farmers, artisans, construction workers, all engaged in the rebuilding process that has brought back business and prosperity, excitement and peace for both residents and visitors.
This is the result of responsible leadership; it cuts across all spheres of engagement, administration, politics and commerce.
When the leader is genuinely committed to the call of duty, the result is not far-fetched, development of the region is automatic, detached from sentiments and deliberately void of partisan politics.
Politics is business, and is partisan when it merely offer rhetoric and platitudes to sway the unsuspecting innocent citizens whose survival and economic relevance is dependent on the quality of leadership the politics of the state has been able to produce, Politics is partisan when it is merely concentrated in the well –being of its circle of patronage, the elites of the society while the masses and their environment suffer a great economic loss. This was the situation in the old Abia under previous moribund administrations.
However, the Gov’ Alex Otti’s led administration of the New Abia government has continued to prove its sincerity in delivering quality leadership that is impactful with its sustainable performance.
In order to confirm this relationship between responsible leadership and impactful sustainable performance, I decided to take a roll call of events around the governance that I have been privileged to come in contact with.
For instance, majority of the infrastructure the government under Gov Otti had undertaken to overhaul were major economic indicators that were once abandoned and exposed to insecurity and prone to economic asphyxiation. Once the road is impassable, business of all kinds is completely frustrated. Once the security of residents is threatened, clientele and mobility is stalled etc.
Till date, there is a record of over 40 road projects embarked upon by this administration across the major commercial routes in Aba, Ohafia and the reconstruction of the once waning capital city of Umuahia under a well defined development template entrusted to the expertise of three major project implementation agencies namely the Umuahia Capital Development Authority,(UCDA) The Greater Aba Development Authority, (GADA) and the Greater Ohafia Development Authority. (GODA)
These agencies have driven the impact of Otti’s economic blueprint down to the grassroots and facilitated in the opening up process of its regions to both local and International investors.
Earlier in the year 2025, a group from the US Market Access Centre has expressed interest to invest in entrepreneurship development and skills acquisition in Abia State, an area that forms part of the focus of GADA, building infrastructures that will boost local entrepreneurship and SME in Aba, the leader of the group had quoted Gov Otti’s ongoing socioeconomic transformation in the state as a motivation, the visit was followed by another delegation from Germany to Abia, highlighting the state’s investment-ready reforms and infrastructure improvements, till date, such visitors continue to flood into Abia as evidence of the kind of leadership in place.
Certainly, without these road infrastructures, security improvement and reconstruction of public facilities that had once forced private businesses to desert Abia, it would have continued to prove difficult for Abia to win the confidence of any local investors not to mention the sudden rush of foreign investors into the state.
More investors from Turkey, the EU, China etc have continued to queue behind every other visit to explore opportunities in the new Abia including possibility of setting up industries that are certain to boost employment and improve the economic cycle in the state and its citizens.
In an era where it has become almost impossible to balance leadership with responsibilities that are impactful in the society and lives of the people, Gov. Alex Otti has continued to prove reason why the people of Abia should trust his leadership competence to rebuild entire Abia political and administrative system to suit with global socio-economic realities.
Njoku SaintJerry A. is the regional Ambassador State Of African Diaspora (SOAD), He writes from Umuahia
