Made-in-Aba campaign to remain in front burner of our activities – Ikpeazu

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, recently had an interactive session with Aba-based correspondents, where he explained the reasons behind the Aba urban renewal project and the commitment of his administration towards creating a better Abia. GODFREY OFURUM was there for BDSUNDAY. Excerpt:

 

 

May we know about your administration’s commitment to the Aba Urban Renewal project?

 

People have wondered why we have perennial traffic jam at Aba Sports Club section of Aba-Owerri road. So, when we came in, we decided to ask the fundamental question, why that section of the road remains bad, even after rehabilitation. And we discovered that the storm water channel that takes flood water from that section of the road to a manhole at Tonimas filling station has been blocked.

The cost of asphalting that section of the road, which is about 200 meters long, is not as huge as the cost of doing the drainage. But we had to do that drainage; because that is the only way to ensure that we do not return to that spot in the next two to three years.

This is the same story at the Abayi section of Aba-Owerri road. The drainage is blocked and we have been battling to open it up. And each time, I drive pass that place- Ngwa High School- I ask a question, what is fundamentally wrong with this place? And the answer is that the road was designed in a way that storm water will go through Ngwa High School gate into the wet land, just before the school field.

So, when the military came, they blocked the openings. And I did not feel that design is good and I decided to tackle it. And so that drainage is almost 6 kilometers long and where we found where to connect it to Waterside is opposite Rhema University.

So, the rigor and the hard work we deployed to the job that we do, tells a story of the mindset of this government. This is my city and I know that whatever I am unable to do properly, will never be done by anybody. This same story can be replicated in Ife-Obara pond and Faulks road.

 

Why did you choose Setraco for the rehabilitation of Faulks road and the reclamation of Ife-Obara pond?

 

In the first place my choice for Setraco Construction Company is because the former contractor deployed for the job, did not have answer to the reclamation of Ife-Obara pond. The site engineer for that project is from Netherlands. Those of you, who know history, know that Dutch people are good in storm water management.  And that is why we have designed that road and incorporated some pumping devices that can pump water from an overflowing Ife-Obara. Once again we are in the top plan-drainage plan, road plan, end to end, nothing is left to chance.

 

 

Some people say that you are laying much emphasis on Aba to increase IGR. Why is it so?

 

People have failed to underscore the emphasis on Aba. Yes, many will say that Aba is supposed to yield revenue (IGR), so, if we do Aba very well, we may get enough IGR to fund developments in other places. Yes, that is true, looking at it on the surface.

But, the focus of this administration is on five pillars of development- agriculture, trade and commerce, small and medium enterprises scheme, education and oil and gas. But SME is huge and that should be our number one priority, followed by agriculture and then trade and commerce.

The reason why we decided to prioritise SME is that it has capacity to employ people and take our youths out of the streets. And if that is true, there is need therefore, to do the roads around it, because it is the roads that will take personnel and goods from one place to the other. And two kinds of roads are instructive here-internal roads and intercity roads. Internal roads are the ones that lead to major clusters and markets. Roads that give access to the city-including Port-Harcourt road, which is unattended to, Aba-Ikot-Ekpene road and Aba-Owerri road.

We are currently working on Aba-Owerri road. And on Ikot Ekpene road, I visited the road with the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola and work has started on some sections and the minister has promised that he would open up Opobo road junction to Ohanze, before the end of March, this year.

And in the alternative, we didn’t want to wait for the Federal Government to complete that road and so, we decided to do an alternative 7.4 kilometer road, cutting across Ururuka road to Onitsha Ngwa. Despite the fact that it is still under construction that road will yield you just 1hr-30 minutes to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. It is also faster to travel by that road. That road is my alternative, to boycott the bad sections of Aba-Ikot-Ekpene road.

And there is another road from Ekwerazu into Akwa-Ibom. But it is not a major highway, but it is road that can take people from Akwa-Ibom into Obingwa and to Aba.

There are two other roads that are equally important to us as a Government-Ohanku and Obohia roads.  Those two roads featured prominently in our campaign and we have not been able to rehabilitate those roads for two reasons-the first reason is that, while we are waiting for the African Development Bank (ADB) to come with their loan, which they promised us, and which we are working hard to secure, through our consultants and we are only hoping and praying that it will materialise soon.

However, that road is so important to me that if we fail to secure that loan, we will think of what to do to make sure that we open it up. It is not a road that we can easily abandon for reasons that it is a federal road.

But, Ohanku and Obohia roads are under contract. And a lot of people don’t like to hear that. But those people, who don’t want to hear about it, are likely ignorant or they have allowed their desire to criticise Government without knowing what is on ground.

You people know that every arm of Government has guidelines and rules, through which it engages the other arms of Government. Even within Abia State, since we have elected Chairmen now, there are strict rules through which State Government can engage Local Governments.

You can’t just move into Ahia-Ohuru tomorrow and say that you are a State Government and that the market belongs to the state. So, for the State to go into a Federal Road, you have to go into communication with the Federal Government and get authority, otherwise you could be arrested and money you spent cannot be refunded and they can even stop you through legal means.

So, there are contractors there, who the NDDC feel are capable of delivering quality jobs and that they are able to fund them, because NDDC as a Government agency also wants to have presence in Abia.

Kamalu road in Osisioma, where Senator Nkechi Nwogu resides, which I built, was under contract with NDDC, but we took it up and completed it, but NDDC is not happy that we did it, because they want to do something in the state.

For the first time in 60 years, this government is doing a cluster of five roads in Ndi-Egoro area, namely Ibere, Emejiaka, Ibadan and Aharandu. This is the first time in 60 years that people in that area will receive that kind of attention. One of those roads leads to 74 Port Harcourt road, which means that somebody can access Port Harcourt road from Ngwa road.

Consequently, the entire story is that as we are doing these roads, we are trying to enable trade and commerce; we are trying to enable SME activities. As we are doing these roads also, we are putting street lights and working on our security apparatus.

At the apex of our pyramids are these two issues- trade and commerce and SME. So, if we are doing roads, we are looking at these two economic activities. As we are trying to improve our cities, we are also looking at these two activities.

Thirdly, our campaign for made-in Abia products is also targeted at attracting not only the attention of Nigerians to the people of Aba, but to make sure that business activity is improved.

If the Governor of Abia State has consistently branded himself made-in-Aba and consistently spoken about it with pride, it means that the self-worth of those that produce those things is improved one way or the other.

Beyond this, the value chain is already expanding. Two corps members, serving in Port Harcourt, who schooled in Abia, sent me a test message recently that they are now vendors of Made-in-Aba shoes and sandals in Port Harcourt.

So, it has opened a line of trade for these young ones and I am going to encourage them with N250,000 each, to come to Aba and buy whatever they find that is in demand in Port Harcourt.

We are going to take deliberate steps to popularise made-in-Aba shoes in Lagos and if possible take it beyond the shores of Nigeria. Our determination and zeal to promote this comes from our heart. And that is one activity that will remain in the front burner of activities of this administration.

We have taken this campaign even to the World Bank. The last time I participated in a World Bank programme and I had the opportunity to speak, I spoke about the capacity and capabilities of our people to produce things.

What I want is for our journalists in Aba to first of all see themselves as Aba people, because you owe it as a duty to promote and propagate better life for your immediate environment that can be seen even beyond the realm of professionalism as a corporate social responsibility.

There is a close relationship between government activity- integration of our activity on the road, integration of our activity on security towards the economic and creating a better life for our people. This is effort that is orchestrated and contemplated and then we are driving towards it, making sure that all parts of government are going working well.

It is nice to write about the roads, it is also good to write the narratives, so that everybody will see where the vision of this administration is focused and how we have consistently sustained the pressure to drive that our vision from point A to point B.

I don’t feel bad when you people write about the roads that we have not done. In fact, when I see them it gives me joy in the sense that you need to be technically aware to understand what we are doing in Abia.

 

 

What is the place of Ife-Obara pond in the ongoing Aba urban renewal project?

 

If we recover Ife-Obara pond, it will correct all the flooding issues in Omuma, Osusu and environs.

If you look at the area map of the flood issue in Aba, you will see a close relationship between Osusu, Urata and Ife-Obara pond. If Ife-Obara pond is expanded and we succeed in dredging it properly and get all the area that belongs to that basin, it will answer all the questions about flooding in Urata and Osusu. So, if we succeed, we do not need a new plan for thorough water management in these areas, all we just need is to open up the drainages and channel them to Ife-Obara pond.      

There is also a connection between what you see on Eziukwu road leading to Cemetery and Ife-Obara pond. So these are things that people may not see. So the first thing we are doing at the moment is to create a point where storm water from all parts of the city can rest within Ife-Obara.

And if Ife-Obara is overflowing, we will activate the pumping machine to pump water to Waterside that is part of the design that Setraco did for us.

And that is why Setraco is key in the project and in arranging the work plan, Setraco is A.

Whosoever will come on Osusu and Urata roads will be B and will take a cue from what Setraco must have done on Faulks Road.

Whatever things anybody is doing in terms of roads in Aba and not talk about flood water management, storm water management and flooding, the person is just not serious.

And I am satisfied that with the rigor of thoughts and in conversations that we hold around our projects that we are giving our best. And if I have opportunity to do better than what you see today, I will.

But the rot that we saw is so much in every place you go. If you go to the new one we are doing at Etche road right now, you will notice that before placed asphalt over drainages.

Some drainages were designed by MCC to come in the centre of the roads. The depth of some of the drainages in the centre of  Etche road was about 9 feet deep, but before this time people placed asphalt on them, thereby preventing storm water from going away.  

And more than 200 houses have been abandoned in that area. So, for us to do that road, our approach is not to overlay, but to open up the drainages. And as people saw us doing this, they have started returning to their houses, because they have noticed that we have started opening up places that they never imagined drainages existed.

If things had continued, I’m sure that in the next 30 to 40 years, half of Aba would have gone.  But we thank God, may be slowly, but consistently, we have our eyes on the board and we are doing what we think is the best for our people under the circumstance.

 

You recently procured communication gadgets for the police in Abia; why did you do so?

 

The issue of security within the states in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria, as it concerns Abia is in a state of dynamic flux, because of the porous border between Rivers, Abia, Akwa-Ibom and Ebonyi. Between Eboinyi and Umunochi, the quarry issue has created a black spot at some of our border areas. Young people are now exposed to drugs and arms, provided by those who do quarry business, as they struggle for who owns which portion. Beyond that, we changed strategy, because the need before December, 2016 was for communication gadgets. It cost us N78 million to provide communities gadgets for the police in Abia. And I don’t think any other State in the South-East region has the kind of sophisticated communication device that the State command of the Nigeria Police has.

The Abia commander can comfortably monitor events at Imo River Bridge-border between Abia and Rivers States. And so our entire perimeter can be monitored from Abia State. And I think that has helped them. But now that we have procured communication equipment for them we will shift attention to repairing the new vehicles vandalised by hoodlums.

Those vehicles were bought six months into our administration- about 26 in number and they were brand new. I wonder what I would have done if I didn’t buy them then, because some of those vehicles that we bought at about N3million are now going for about N5.5 million.

And so we have a programme to start systematic repair of the vehicles. There is a strategic police outpost, which we are building around Good Morning Market and if we are able to complete that in the next one month we will be able to intensify security around that area. There is also another police establishment we want to build around Ohanku road as part of our strategy to cut link between Ohanku and Aba, which is usually an escape route for criminals.