…Clarifies Delay on $1.3bn Abia Medical City Project
…Speaks on Lagos Demolition of Igbo Traders’ Shops
By Steve Oko
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has revealed that some highly-placed individuals attempted — but failed — to frustrate his administration’s move to take over the reconstruction of the Umuahia–Ikot Ekpene federal road.
Speaking during a media parley in Umuahia on Thursday night, Governor Otti expressed shock that people, including some from Abia State, would oppose a project meant to alleviate the suffering of road users.
“We will flag off the reconstruction of 25 kilometers of the road on Friday. We got approval from the Federal Ministry of Works to do the route for our people,” Otti said. “We know some people wanted to scuttle it. They didn’t want the approval to be given. But thank God we were able to get it. Some of them are also from Abia. And the question is: you don’t want the road that passes through your father’s house to be built? And you call yourself a patriotic leader?”
According to him, his administration’s intervention was necessary to ease the hardship faced by commuters on the dilapidated federal highway. He disclosed that contracts for several other road projects, including the 13.1km Ariam Usaka Ikwuano Ring Road, had also been awarded and would be flagged off soon.
“Beyond those, we have also awarded another 9.3km road, as well as the 4.9km Ise Mba–Itungwa–Mgbedala Road in Isiala Ngwa South and another 3.7km road in Isiala Ngwa North,” he said.
The governor further revealed plans to give attention to Ubani Urban Market in line with his urban decongestion strategy for Umuahia city center.
“I will find out why work hasn’t started there, because I already gave instructions. We need to fix that market not just for traders but to decongest Umuahia metropolitan area,” he said.
On education, Otti ordered an investigation into why his directive to establish a secondary school for the blind at Ibeku High School had not been implemented. He stressed that any school building that failed structural integrity tests would be pulled down and rebuilt.
“Truth be told, over 90% of schools require attention. We can’t take all at the same time, so we prioritized those in the worst conditions,” he noted.
Clarifying the delay in the takeoff of the proposed $1.3 billion Abia Medical City, Otti said it was caused by flaws in the original contractual agreement.
“I discovered some clauses that were not acceptable to the state government. I interpreted and returned the agreement for review. The negotiation has since resumed. The funds are still available, but we must tidy up every detail before proceeding,” the governor explained.
On the demolition of Igbo traders’ shops in Lagos, Otti said he had opted for quiet diplomacy instead of media confrontation.
“My attitude on these issues is to engage without too much media noise. I get more results that way,” he said, hinting that the state government was already working on plans to build new shops in Abia for affected traders of Abia origin.
“Some unions are organizing themselves to build their shops here in Abia, and very soon, you will see those shops springing up,” he assured.
The post Otti: Some people tried to stop us from fixing Umuahia–Ikot Ekpene Road appeared first on Vanguard News.
