In his vision of a valley filled with dry bones, the biblical prophet Ezekiel described a haunting scene where the valley, representing numerous humans, was lifeless. This imagery signifies death and the complete termination of life, much like the condition of the renowned Enyimba city over the past 24 years of successive administrations.
However, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, much like Ezekiel, recognized this "valley" of dry bones and asked, "Can these dry bones rise again?" Today, under Governor Otti's leadership, the bones have begun to come together, the flesh is growing over them, and life is being restored to Aba, the great Enyimba city.
On assumption of office on May 29, 2023, The Abia state Governor Dr Alex Chioma Otti who understands the needs and yearnings of his people moved into Aba, the commercial nerve city of Abia state and established The " Greater Aba Development Authority(GADA) with Architect Uche Ukeje as the Pioneer Director General of the Agency.
To show the importance of Governor Otti's zeal to develop Aba city, the bill to establish GADA was the first to be passed into law in the state. This shows the importance his administration attaches to the development of Aba.
Barely two years into Governor Otti's administration in Abia state, it is crystal clear that the developmental transformation so far witnessed in Aba surpasses what was obtained in the past 24 years in the state.
Speaking to Journalists in his office yesterday, the Director General of Greater Aba Development Authority, (GADA) Architect Uche Ukeje, said, " Aba has been the industrial and cultural nerve centre of the South East and South-South Region and has also been the location of several historical events including the Aba women riot of 1929. Now, at some points,, Aba was producing over 50% of the industrial output of the South East region. Aba also happens to be the only city that is both commercial and industrial. We have Nnewi and Onitsha, both in Anambra state which are both, which are both industrial and commercial, respectively, but Aba combines both. That gave Aba a unique position in the South East and South-South Regions. Incidentally, some of the plans that made Aba what it is today were laid by the Late Ukpabia Asika, who had developed the Master plan for the development of the South East region and in that plan, Aba was a major industrial and commercial location of the development of the South East and South-South Regions."
Ukeje said " When His Excellency, Dr Alex Chioma Otti was campaigning to be Governor of Abia state, he had the opportunity to visit several nooks and crannies of the state so he knew to a large extent the state of infrastructure and the mind of the people and based on that, he formulated programmes that the initial one year plus will be to consolidate the failing infrastructure and subsequently would start to introduce features that will define Aba city for a long time to come. One of the things the Governor did was to take over Aba and tackle the ever-perennial problem of flooding, which had annually cost residents of the city over N5b - N10b worth of their assets.
Today it is on record that in 2024, there was no flooding in Aba and that was because, His Excellency, Dr Alex Chioma Otti had focussed on opening all the channels, rehabilitating the drainages and removing in some instances buildings located on the drainages and this singular act enabled the drain channels to open and mitigated the risk of flooding and destruction of properties. Today, you wouldn't see shops that are overflooded in Ariaria International Market or buildings that are lost due to flooding. So that was a major achievement. The city saved Billions of dollars in losses. The other thing that the Governor did in Aba that was running hand in hand with the anti-flooding program was zero potholes with the commercial city of Aba metropolis. All the roads within the metropolis today are zero potholes. You will also recall that the Governor, on the date of his swearing-in, started the clean-up Aba program and declared Dirty as an Emergency. As we speak today, Aba has not been as clean as it is today in the past five years, and this is still a work in progress."
Ukeje said, " Significant progress has been made, and when l mentioned some of this hard stuff, there also soft that has been done. The master plan for Aba is on the way. Aba never had a master plan, and the project has gone over 80%; we hope and expect that it will be completed in June 2025. By next week, a public workshop will be held, and there, we expect the public to look at what has been done and come up with their opinion so that we keep refining the Master plan until we have a document that we can all be proud of."
" There is also what we have started doing which we called "SME CLINIC ". We found out that part of the challenges businessmen have here is that they don't have the basic knowledge and tools that have to do with running modern businesses. They are very good businessmen, but when it comes to bookkeeping and other things, they may not have the necessary tools to reap the full benefits of their efforts. So His Excellency has also approved that the SME CLINIC be run for people in conjunction with the banks so the businessmen be trained and retrained and given a pedestal to make their businesses expand and have the capacity and knowledge to skill their businesses up. But beyond that, they will also learn the tools required to make their businesses outlive them because the training will allow them to set up processes and control to ensure their businesses continue to operate even when their founders are not there." he said.
He stated that " the Governor had comprehensively transformed Aba from the way it used to be to what we have now and on the transition to what we expect in the coming years. Just last week, the Governor awarded the contract for the first footbridge. It is a tribute to the humane person he is. Sometime last year, one of the graduating Students of Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic, Aba, was crushed to date by a moving vehicle this footbridge will be installed in memory of that late lady to immortalise her and the bridge will be done in such a way that even people with wheelchairs will be able to assess the bridge. It will be a sustainable installation that would have panels that will be self-sustaining and covered and safe, and people will not feel awkward using it."
Ukeje said, " There are also plans to build 274 Medical installations across the state, and out of that, over 45 of them will be located in Aba. So the Governor is working in the Health, Education, infrastructure and also other sectors in the commercial city both in cleanliness and all these things are happening simultaneously. In furtherance to that, His Excellency will also build a bridge that will connect Eziama with Ogbohill and the road that will connect 7UP with Okpuloumobo will be awarded in a few weeks from now. These are the installations we expect will comprehensively transform the city, and that way, somebody from Obikabia who wants to go to Aba Sports Club will not need to come to lkot-Ekpene; the person will just drive across the second bridge, and he is there. The Governor will also do another bridge that will connect Udeagbala road to Okpuloumobo. So if you need to go to Abia State University Teaching Hospital((ABSUTH), you don't need to come to Okpuloumobo, and that will give people more access to the State Health Facility, interconnect people within the city, make life easier for the ordinary man and increase the velocity of money. This kind of connection is going on everywhere: Ohanku, Obohia, Igbere and over 20 completed and ongoing road projects across the city. All these are done to ensure that components of the city and the hinterlands become more efficient and effective, and all these roads are done with Street lights, thereby fortifying security within the city.
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Ukeje said "In the next few years of Dr Alex Chioma Otti's Administration, Aba will look better than anyone can imagine and we are sure Aba residents are happy with what the Governor has done in barely two years and GADA is determined through His Excellency to give Aba the best in line with the New Abia and massive transformation Agenda of our working Governor.
He said "Before coming of the present administration, over 98% of the public schools were in Shamble with leaking roofs, no teachers but the Governor is employing over 5000 teachers and life has returned to our private schools which are all free likewise the Health facilities across the state and so it is entirely a comprehensive turnaround in all sectors of the state "
- Ugbor is resident in Aba
