OMPAN Inspects 15 Projects of Gov. Otti In Aba,Gets Reactions of Residents
The first phase of a 2-day tour of projects of the Abia State Governor Alex Otti, in the last one year in office embarked on by Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria(OMPAN) Abia State took place yesterday Thursday May 23,2024 with the inspection of some road projects in Aba the commercial hub of the state.
The findings of the media tour is intended to inform members public on how the current administration has been able to deliver dividends of democracy to Abians as well as pave way for effective coverage and dissemination of reports about government policies and programmes to
the people.
The media tour also seeks to draw the attention of Abians and Nigerians in general to the major achievements of Governor Alex Otti under one year in office.
As watch dog of the society OMPAN tried as much as possible to be very objective in reportage of their observations and findings in the course of the projects monitoring.
The tour which kicked -started from Osisioma- Ekeakpara road ended at Kent street after solid eight hours during which the Online Media Practitioners criss crossed the length and breadth of Enyimba city,inspecting projects as well as getting the reactions of people concerning the policies and impact of the current administration of Governor Alex Otti.
The exercise worth its salt although energy-sapping as it revealed a lot about Governor Otti’s impactful infrastructural development in the social and economic life of the people of Aba,who are mostly business people and the areas government needs to improve on.
The List of roads inspected during the tour include the following:
1. Ekeakpara Road
2. Geometric Road
3. Ariaria junction to Egberi Omuma
4. Umuode Road
5. Rehabilitation of Umuocham Road
6. College Road
7. Green Avenue
8. University Road
9. Umuodu Road
10. Shalom Road
11. Umuimo Road
12. Port Harcourt Road
13. Old Court Road
14. Ehi Road and
15. Kent street.
The Osisioma Ekeakpara road,the road covering about 3.5km was on going. Interacting with few residents of the area,they expressed appreciation to Gov.Otti for remembering the road after many years of abandonment by previous governments which made the road impassable.
The however alleged that the contractor handling the road, was not serious in handling the road after it was flagged off.
“Since that day Oga came and flagged off this Osisioma Ekeakpara road, the contractors are not being serious,help us tell the Governor to call them to order” one the residents said.
From there,the media team moved to Ariaria market road and inspected the construction of the Ariaria junction to Egberi Omuma road.It is on going with the Engineers on site.
A business man, Engr. Nwogwugwu , said the road as impassable before Governor Otti came and awarded it to the company.” We thank God for Governor Otti,he is God sent to Ndi Aba”
The team also visited Umuode ,Umuocham roads ,Umueze ,Uba akirika road leading to Early learning, College road, University, Umuodu road, Green Avenue ,Shalom road and Umuimo road.
Some of the residents who spoke with our team were Hon.Nwaeze Chamberlain and Marculay Onyeze. According to them “these roads were terribly bad that it was actually flooded area, totally abandoned before God sent Governor Alex Otti. At a time,some landlords sold their properties at auction price and left this place but now you can see how smooth and good the roads are. We are praying for Governor Otti ”
Also the team visited Port Harcourt road which is being constructed by Julus Berger.
The Engineers handling the project were on ground doing their job.
A trader who introduced himself as Hon.Patrick Duru, said,” For roughly 24 years this place was impassable which led to the collapse of our businesses.Many traders left this place because our business partners from Port Harcourt stopped coming because of the nature of the area then but now we are happy,the whole Area have come back to life.God bless our Governor”
The team from there moved to Old court road, Ehi road where the shopping center is located and rounded off at Kent street. These roads are all completed and economic activities are booming within the Area. One of the traders at Ehi road who spoke with the us said apart from the good road that the Governor constructed that they now use solar lights in the market to boost their business activities in the evening.
One significant thing through out the tour is that Aba people are so happy with what Governor Alex Otti is doing in Enyimba city and this they freely exprrssed through their prayers and goodwill messages.
The tour continues today around the Capital city and environs!