Politics
‘Abia re-building agenda in progress’
From Peter Okore, Umuahia
Commissioners of the various government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Abia state have been reeling out achievements, proposals and processes geared towards realizing “the new Abia”, under governor Alex Otti.
For the past 24 years, Abia state had been bedeviled with dilapidated infrastructure, abandonment of the rural communities and over-bloated workforce in the civil service. The intension of the new administration is, however, to change the narrative in the state.
Addressing journalists during a media interaction in Umuahia, tagged “Community Choose Your Project”, the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu , stated that the various activities presently going on at Aba and Umuahia, respectively, are designed to give credibility to the state and make people have confidence in government as well as achieve the election promises of the governor, which he made to the people during his election campaigns.
He said as part of the Abia re-building agenda, attention of government would now be focused on the rural communities through the Community Social Development Agency (CSDA), in the bid to facilitate developments at the grassroots.
“Under this process, communities would be allowed to select the projects of their choice , in order of importance”, he said.
The Commissioner, who spoke along side the Special Adviser to the Governor on Policies and Interventions, Rev. Father Christian Anokwuru and Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Special Projects, Dr. Betty Emeka Obasi said that government officials would soon begin tour the communities in the state and assess the projects chosen.
According to the Commissioner, the projects to be done would be chosen by the benefiting communities and not the government. Each community will be allowed to choose a project not exceeding N15Million worth, while any benefitting community pays a counter-part fund of 5 percent of the value of the project as their own contribution to the project.
“ We are looking at economically important roads in each LGA so as to assist in the smooth evacuation of farm produce from the areas.”
The commissioner further stated that , at moment, a total of six roads have been commissioned in Aba by Governor Alex Otti, pointing out that more roads will soon be commissioned by the governor, as some other roads are under construction in the area. There are also some palliative works going on in Umuahia on a number of roads.
He said that serious work was on-going on the Aba – Port Harcourt- axis of the Enugu – Port Harcourt Express- way, adding that one- end of the road would be ready for use by the end of November, while the other end would be ready by the end of December this year. Kanu was full of joy that a competent contractor, Julius Berger, has commenced work at the abandoned Port- Harcourt road in Aba.
This is unlike the previous regimes in Abia state when contracts were merely awarded to contractors based on party patronages only, rather than competence. Most of those roads hardly lasted for not more that two rainy seasons.
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Policies and Interventions, Rev. Father Anokwuru said interested communities already on the list of the Abia -CSDA project would be expected to apply with community letter headed paper for any project of their choice
The Special Adviser said the projects would be co- owned by government and the benefiting community . He said every interested community in the State should apply as new projects would be selected , built and commissioned. He maintained that , the prospective community must have a bank account through which the project funds would be transacted .
In her own contribution, the SSA on Special Projects, Dr.Betty Obasi hinted that the verification exercise going on in the various MDAs in the state is soon to be rounded –up. She hinted that the Verification committee, comprising representatives from the Civil service, Local Government, Parastatals and the Organized Labour, is chosen to make sure of fair treatment to all.
In the words of Mrs. Obasi: “Because of the nature of the exercise, we are giving “human face to it. We are identifying people both on-line and physically. We are taking the exercise to the door-steps of affected people including the sick and bed-ridden as well as people living outside Nigeria. So far, a total of 11, 479 persons are yet to be profiled. We have given two weeks for this group to come and identify themselves. Those who could not show evidence that they are part of the system will be regarded as being out of the system and would be treated as such”.
