Businesses in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, are now counting the gains of conducive business environment as infrastructure has improved in the city and its environs.
Before now, many businesses reeled under poor infrastructure. The markets in Aba were in bad shape; the roads were bad, water-logged, there was perpetual darkness and everything was pointing negative.
The story is changing, as the current administration in the state, led by Governor Alex Otti, is investing in infrastructure to provide a more conducive environment for commerce and attract fresh investments into the city.
Apart from the rehabilitation of roads, the Abia State Government has also flagged off remodeling of all the major markets in the commercial city, starting with Ariaria International, Ahia Ohuru and Eke Oha Shopping Centre, a textile market in the Aba city centre.
This decision, which is in line with the urban renewal programme of the current administration in the state, will also pave the way for the remodeling of the markets to bring them up to modern standards.
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Aba, as a commercial hub, hosts some of the biggest markets in the South-East/South-South Zones of Nigeria, which include Ariaria International Market, Ekeoha (Shopping Centre) Market- popular for textile, Ahia Ohuru, which stocks clothing and food items and Eziukwu Market that stocks mostly beverages, cosmetics and stockfish.
These markets host patrons from all parts of Nigeria and the West Coast and Central African countries.
However, some structures in these markets were not properly constructed and are now death traps.
“There is improvement in infrastructure, especially in road and electricity”, says Innocent Onwukwe, managing director, Ojaic Concept, a male tailoring outfit.
According to him, “Aba road network has improved. People now drive on good roads unlike before when the roads were deplorable.”
On power, he said that electricity has improved in the city centre and urged Aba Power Limited to improve supply in other parts of the city.
Chima Amadi, president, EKUMI Patent Medicine Dealers Association, said that the governor has started dualising Umuode Road, which leads to the market in fulfillment of his promise, noting that the road when completed, would properly link EKUMI Plaza and Ariaria International Market .
For Ken Anyanwu, a shoemaker and national secretary, Association of Leather and Allied Industrialists of Nigeria (ALAIN), there is improvement in roads, while electricity is improving gradually in Aba metropolis.
Ibe Nzenwa, member, Eziukwu Market, Interim management Committee, praised the governor for improving road network around the market.
He also said that patrons from Port Harcourt, Calabar, Uyo, Owerri and other parts of the country now have easy access to the market, because all the routes into the market have been rehabilitated.
“For instance, you can board a tricycle from this market to Omuma, Osusu to Ariaria easily. For those who come from Cross River and Akwa Ibom, it is now easy for them to access this market from Ogbor Hill, through Emelogu-Ngwa Road,” he said.
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Uche Ukeje, general manager, Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA), an intervention agency of Abia State Government, set up to remodel Aba and make the commercial city more habitable, affirmed that the plan of the present administration in the state is to restructure Aba to accommodate current and future demands.
He said that GADA was created to ensure that there is a structured development of Aba.
“If you call a market, an international market, it should actually meet international standards,” he said.
Apart from that, he said that the next plan would be to expand Aba in a structured way to accommodate current and future demands for the next 30 years.
“Already, the governor has started by repairing the fabrics of the city. The medium term is what we are working on currently. We are now trying to expand some to rejuvenate some aspects of the city as we know it today, like the Ngwa Road Market, Ekeoha Market, Ariaria market, the Aba Town Hall, making portable water available for Aba, electricity; we are trying to repair that urban fabric and that is currently ongoing, ensuring that there will be no flooding in Aba.
“We have two plans, the mitigation plan that mitigates the effect of that and the other is a permanent solution that ensures that things like Ifeobara pond, Utatta pond and others disappear and never have an opportunity of recurring in Aba,” he said.
