The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ABA

  • Aba residents assess Ikpeazu

    On May 29, Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu presented his scorecard as his administration marked two years in office. He listed several achievements including completing about 40 roads, recovery and revamping government lands and oil palm estates, raising 2 million oil palm seedlings, and raising another 2.5 million seedlings this year, developing a 2,500 capacity layer farm at Umuahia with a production capacity of between 20,000 and 24,000 crates of eggs per cycle of 18 months, and training and retraining teachers. The governor also spoke of partnering with the Precious Kids Education Empowerment Organisation of Australia to lift the standards of primary schools in the state, feeding pupils, and driving made-in-Aba campaign as well as attracting N1.5 billion investment in the state, among other achievements. Not bad for a two-year-old administration, the government might say.

    Notwithstanding, residents of Aba, the state’s commercial capital, are divided on whether the governor has soared or simply been walking. While some felt the government has done well compared to the previous administration, others said it was yet to positively affect the lives of the people.

    Hon. Uchechi Ogbuka, former State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, said in a telephone interview: “We thank God for giving us a governor like Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu. We are very happy for his achievement so far in spite of the fact that he has been in the court in the last two years. That didn’t deter him from dishing out democratic dividends to Abians.

    “He has revived the locally made goods. Recall that Aba sometime in the past was deserted. Most of the artisans ran away at that time. But today, Aba is growing up and goods made in Aba are now making waves at the international market courtesy of Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu. You can recall that so many roads in Aba and other parts of the state were in a deplorable state before Ikpeazu came to power. But today, he is building roads that will stand the test of time. The system of handling finance in Abia is second to none. The finances are managed so well that civil servants in the state don’t go on strike unlike what is obtainable in other states. He is a very transparent manager who puts everything on the table for everybody to see..

    “I disagree with people who are saying that Ikpeazu is yet to meet the expectations of people that voted him into power. He has done his best and the best that we are expecting will come now that he has settled down. Since he was able to achieve the little that he has achieved even while in court, now that the matters are over, I am confident that Abians will have cause to smile because he is going to put his efforts into developing and serving Abia.”

    Dr. Alex Otti, who lost the election to Ikpeazu, also assessed the governor, saying, “If you live in Abia State you don’t need me to say anything, I don’t need to say anything, salaries are being owed for several months, we came in through Umuahia today and the city is as dirty as anything, heaps of rubbish all over the place in a state capital.

    “There is nothing that has changed, Aba is the same, we see all those reports on national newspapers and online, it’s very unfortunate. I am not surprised though because it is the same party that has been in government in the last 17 or 18 years, so I am not surprised and that was why Abia people wanted that change and they still want the change.

    ”That is my assessment, the important thing is that it is my opinion and I will want Abia people to know that they are entitled to their opinion. You know we have been used to a system where everybody lines up behind one man; the man determines what everyone else says, I will like us to move away from that and am sure we are happy that we are moving out.

    “I believe Abia people are in a better position to assess the performance of the present government. They can go and see what is happening in their neighbouring states, go to Ebonyi State, they are now several miles ahead of Abia State and they don’t have oil, Anambra does not have oil, so they don’t have 13% derivation. That is how sad it is. We are not there yet and it behooves on all of us to ensure that we continue pushing until we get to where we should be celebrating.”

    The Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abia State Chapter, Comrade Ben Godson noted that the Ikpeazu’s administration may have started on a good note judging from the level of decay and abandonment, the immediate past governor of the state and now Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Theodore Orji left the state.

    Godson was angry, though, that despite the contribution of his oil-producing community to the economy of the state, two years into his administration, Ikpeazu was yet to improve the lives of the people of the community.

    “Ukwa West is an oil-producing area,” he said. “It is the goose that lays the eggs the state is enjoying. They are the people that made Abia to be listed among oil producing states in the country. But as I speak with you, the government of Abia State is yet to embark on a meaningful project in the area. Are we talking about roads? The deplorable nature of roads is nothing to write home about. No good school. No good water scheme. The people are still impoverished despite the role their community is playing to the economic generation and growth of the state and until that is done.”

    A civil servant who would not want her name in print lauded the incumbent administration for improving infrastructure but lamented the inability of the state to pay its workforce promptly.

    According to the local government worker, the continued delay in paying workers’ salaries has forced many of them to relocate to the village.

    The worker said many of them have been forced to also withdraw their children from private schools where quality of education is higher.

    “Even the school feeding introduced by the state government for pupils in public schools in the state, for me is to score cheap political point. They only use the media to get attention.”

    A respondent who gave his name as Chima Okoh described the whistleblowing policy that was recently introduced by the state government as a welcome development which if properly harnessed would go a long way in curbing crime.

     

  • Fire guts Aba beverage market

    Shop owners on Tenant road beverage market, Aba, Abia State, have lost goods worth millions of naira to a mysterious fire that engulfed the building.

    It was gathered the fire lasted about four hours and took the intervention of men of the fire service to prevent it from spreading to adjourning buildings.

    Market sources said about seven rooms, three beverage stores and four rooms stocked with bags of rice were burnt.

    A resident, Chidiinma, said: “The fire started around 9pm when traders had gone home. The cause could not be ascertained because the people have stopped using electricity for a long time.

    “The damage could have been more if the fire service officers had not arrived in time.”

    A shop owner, who could barely talk, said his family lost all it was able to gather over the years. He appealed to the government to come to their aid.

    The Aba Chief Fire Officer, Mr. Okezie Uche, confirmed the incident. He said the cause of the fire was still unknown.

    According to him, the battled the fire from 9m till about 1am, before they eventually overpowered it. He said they were able to save over a billion naira property.

  • 2000 eye patients get glasses in Aba

    2000 eye patients get glasses in Aba

    There is visual relief for over 2,000 optometric patients in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, as two non-governmental organisations, Emeka Nnamani Foundation (ENF) and Universal Mission USA provided them with reading glasses and also treated them of various eye diseases. The event lasted three days.

    Flagging off the outreach in Aba, Hon Emeka Nnamani explained why he organised the programme in partnership with Universal Mission USA.

    He said, “We gave away over 2000 reading glasses; we are working in partnership with an American-based organisation called Universal Mission USA and we are hoping by the end of the exercise, we would have been able to reach out to as many people as possible who have problems with their eyes.”

    Apart from giving free eye treatment and reading glasses, the boss of ENF hinted that his organisation would soon start up an anti-cancer campaign which is to enlighten people on symptoms, effects and causes of cancer. He equally informed that by the end of the year, his foundation will donation a dialysis machine to the state hospital in Aba.

    Declining to state the cost of the free programme, he, however, admitted it ran into millions of Naira.

    Coordinator of Universal Mission, USA, a charity organization, Nne Ihuoma Ngumoha said her outfit decided to partner Emeka Nnamani Foundation due to the similarity in vision of the two non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

    “This young man has been touching lives in Aba as I heard and he invited us all the way from US to come and help to alleviate some of the sufferings of people which include those who have eye problems. If you don’t have your sight, you become debilitated, you won’t live a normal life and you become unproductive. When he invited us and I saw the need for it, we accepted and that’s why we are here to help restore sight as much as we can.”

    According to Ngumoha who is a public health consultant, “The correlation between both foundations is that we have the same vision; they say like terms attract. We work with people anywhere in the world, even we’ve been to Ghana, we’ve been to other countries where they have the same vision with us which is helping people to better our community, to reach out to the needy, to reach the underserved in any way we can, both eye check, we organize sickness awareness. Right now we have an upcoming awareness on prostate cancer which has been known to cause over 70 percent of middle age men’s death. So, we want to take care of anything we can, after that we might go into sickle cell treatment.”

  • Enugu Disco and Aba electricity consumers

    SIR: One of the essences of public corporation is to provide essential services to the public at a subsidized rate. However, if the underlying motive of privatizing the Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN), was to break monopoly, that motive is good as useless. For example, in Aba where the multi-billion Geometric Power Project could have provided a better and strong alternative, the project was highly sabotaged in a manner which strongly is not devoid of politics. Were Geometric allowed to come on stream, residents of Aba, the Small and Medium Enterprises-hub would have been rescued from the terrible claws of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, which holds sway in the South-east.

    The activities of EEDC in Aba are both despicable and exploitative. It is highly inimical to commercial and artisanship spirits of the town. The attitude of the field workers of the establishment- who are arguably permanent staff- is irritating. They are impunity epitomized: disconnecting consumers at will even when there are clear evidences of payment of bills; failure to issue disconnection notices; indiscriminate re-connection charges without issuance of receipts as evidence of payment. These field workers are lords unto themselves and you dare not question their authority.

    The billing system is nothing to write home about. They implement what is called “estimated or crazing billing system” and the irony is that consumers may go some months without electricity but are duty-bound to pay bills. It is a common knowledge that the payment for products is to derive utility, which is the satisfaction derived from consuming a product. For EEDC, “utility” is a “strange concept”.

    The rural communities are not spared in this madness. They are under what is called “the bulk billing system” which runs upwards of N600, 000 .00 per month. More worrisome is the fact that these rural communities are peopled by predominantly peasant farmers whose means of livelihood are inadequate to sustain them. The situation has forced communities and individuals to drag EEDC to court. But this option is as well frustrating because of the delay associated with our judicial system. Some communities that do not consider legal actions as viable options have resorted to self- help by physically manhandling EEDC staff.

    EEDC is urged to rejig their activities in Aba as not to constitute a clog in the wheel of progress of the city as an SME hub of the nation.

     

    • Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu,

    Aba, Abia State.

  • 67 held in Aba, Cross River

    67 held in Aba, Cross River

    Twenty members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Biafra Independent Movement (BIM) were arrested by soldiers attached to 144 Battalion, Ukwa West Local Government of Abia State.
    It was learnt that those arrested were rushing to meet their colleagues when they were stopped by soldiers at Osisioma junction.
    They are allegedly being detained at Ngwa High School.
    Abia South leader of the group, Opkorie Kama, in a telephone chat, confirmed the arrest.
    He called on authorities of the 144 Battalion and 14 Brigade Ohafia to release their members unconditionally.
    Spokesman of the brigade Maj. Oyegoke Gbadamosi confirmed the arrest.
    Maj. Gbadamosi said the soldiers were directed to screen and allow the detainees go home afterwards.
    But the Uchenna Madu-led faction has dissociated itself from the protest.
    Its spokesman Anayochukwu Okpara described the rally as a sham.
    Okpara, however, urged residents to be ready for the May 30 sit-at-home.
    Forty-seven persons, including leader of the group in Cross River State, were arrested during their protest in Odukpani Local Government.
    A member of the group, who pleaded for anonymity, said; “The peaceful march was to sensitise the people about the group’s existence. We embarked on a peaceful march and we were unarmed. We did not disturb the peace of anybody but were surprised when the police, DSS, and other security agents arrested us,” he said.
    Police spokesman Irene Ugbo confirmed the arrest. She said 47of them were arrested at Odukpani junction and brought to the command headquarters in Calabar for questioning.
    “We had information about the rally at Odukpani and our men swung into action and arrested them for questioning to ascertain their mission and objective. Once that is obtained, they would be release because no weapon was found on them,” she said.

  • Doctor commits suicide in Aba

    •Wife kills husband

    A 74-year-old doctor, in Aba, Abia State, identified as Dr. Mbakwe, has killed himself with a gun.

    Mbakwe, a resident of Abayi in Osisioma Local Government, was bedridden with an undisclosed ailment for about thirty years.

    Sources attributed the man’s action to frustration due to his condition.

    It was learnt the Abayi Police Division, where the matter was reported by the victim’s family, has begun investigation.

    In a similar development, the body of Mr. Obinna Obi, a butcher at Cemetery Market, was found in his home on 4 Aguata Street, off Omuma road in Aba South Local Government, on Wednesday.

    He was allegedly killed by his wife, Onyinyechi.

    Sources said trouble ensued between the couple after his wife turned down several pleas for sex, which didn’t go down well with the man. Others said they had minor altercations that morning.

    But a source on the street said the couple had never had it smooth. According to him, the deceased was recently admitted in the hospital after his wife allegedly stabbed him with a scissors during a fight.

    Police spokesman Geoffrey Ogbonna confirmed the incidents.

    According to Ogbonna, the doctor had been sick for about 30years, saying he probably committed suicide due to the prolonged sickness.

    Ogbonna said Obi’s wife is being questioned, adding that an autopsy would be done to ascertain the real cause of his death.

    “We learnt that the woman, in March, stabbed the husband with a scissors after which he was hospitalised. The law says if a man dies one year and a day after sustaining any serious injury, the person who inflicted the injury would be held liable.

    “In this case, it is not up to one year that he was hospitalised and discharged that he was stabbed by the wife again; that was why the wife was arrested.

    “But the deceased brothers said he had been having chest pain. But the true cause of his death will be determined through autopsy. But his wife is in our custody,” Ogbonna added.

  • Medical doctor commits suicide

    A 74 year-old medical doctor, identified as Dr. Mbakwe has committed suicide after he reportedly shot himself with a gun at house in Aba,
    Abia State.
    Mbakwe, a resident of Abayi in Osisioma Local Government Area of the state was said to have taken his life after being bedridden with an undisclosed illness for thirty years.
    Information about the suicide, at the time of this report was sketchy but sources attributed the man’s action as an act of frustration due to his medical condition.
    The Nation learnt Abayi Police Division where the matter was reported by the victim’s family has taken jurisdiction and its operatives investigating the matter.
    A source at the division who pleaded anonymity said that operatives of the division were investigating the matter and would not want to preempt the outcome of the investigation.
    In another development, residents of No. 4 Aguata street off Omuma road in Aba South Local Government Area of the state was on Wednesday
    thrown into shock as they wake to discover the lifeless body of a co-tenant, Mr. Obinna Obi.
    Obi, a butcher as Cemetery market was allegedly said to have been killed by his wife, identified as Onyinyechi.
    While an account has it that trouble ensued between the couple after his wife turned down several plea for sex which didn’t go down well
    with the man, another account has it that they had minor altercations that fateful morning.

     

  • Ikpeazu urged to improve security in Aba

    Ikpeazu urged to improve security in Aba

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State has asked Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to address insecurity in Aba, the state’s commercial hub.
    Chairman and Publicity Secretary Donatus Nwankpa and Comrade Ben Godson, at a news conference, decried “persistent harassment, loss of valuable items and incessant kidnapping of residents and visitors”, which they said was not only worrisome, but counter-productive to growth.
    Nwankpa said: “It is disheartening that the state, which celebrated the defeat of the dreaded ‘Osisikankwu’ and his gang, is witnessing the resurgence of sinister groups who have continued to terrorise innocent people.”
    He attributed the “incessant kidnapping and robbery” in Aba and its environs to the failure of the government to manage security, saying “we are not impressed that despite the concentration of the Army in most parts of the state, these hoodlums go about brazenly, carrying out their nefarious act and making the state look as if no security agency exists therein.
    “The Army, police and other security apparatus should rise up to the challenge and arrest the security challenges in the state. I call on the government to respond to the yearnings of its citizens because its primary responsibility is protect lives and property of people – any government that cannot provide such is a failure,” he added.
    Godson said if nothing was done to nip the crime in the bud, fears are that Aba would be returning to the era “where people preferred doing business in neighbouring states.”

  • Ikpeazu urged to improve security in Aba

    Ikpeazu urged to improve security in Aba

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State has asked Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to address insecurity in Aba, the state’s commercial hub.

    The Chairman and Publicity Secretary, Donatus Nwankpa and Comrade Ben Godson, at a news conference, decried what they described as “persistent harassment, loss of valuable items and incessant kidnapping of residents and visitors”, which they said was not only worrisome, but counter-productive to growth.

    Nwankpa said: “It is disheartening that the state, which celebrated the defeat of the dreaded ‘Osisikankwu’ and his gang, is witnessing the resurgence of sinister groups who have continued to terrorise innocent people.”

    He attributed the “incessant kidnapping and robbery” in Aba and its environs to the failure of the government to manage security, saying “we are not impressed that despite the concentration of the Army in most parts of the state, these hoodlums go about brazenly, carrying out their nefarious act and making the state look as if no security agency exists therein.

    “The Army, police and other security apparatus should rise up to the challenge and arrest the security challenges in the state. I call on the government to respond to the yearnings of its citizens because its primary responsibility is protect lives and property of people – any government that cannot provide such is a failure,” he added.

    Godson said if nothing was done to nip the crime in the bud, fears are that Aba would be returning to the era “where people preferred doing business in neighbouring states.”

  • Aba: One dies in ghastly motor accident

    Aba: One dies in ghastly motor accident

    Residents of Aba were on Monday thrown into tears as a ghastly motor accident which occurred along the ever busy Aba Ikot Ekpene Expressway claimed the life of a man identified as Arua, an indigene of Abiriba, Ohafia Local Area of Abia State.

    This is happening less than 2weeks after an accident involving a Mack truck carrying chippings allegedly killed about 10 persons on the same spot of the Waterside Bridge which forced Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu in the company of the commissioner for works to pay an unscheduled visit to the accident site.

    The accident which took place at about 8:00am caused gridlock on the Ikot-Ekpene-Aba axis of the expressway forcing many motorists heading into the commercial town to use the Aba-Ikot-Ekpene lane while others were forced to use Opobo junction route because of the situation.

    Our reporter who visited the accident scene shortly after it occurred gathered that the corpse of the man who died on the spot had been taken to GMP mortuary as three other accident victims were hospitalised at Egon Clinic. A nursing mother whose case was said to be severed was said to have been taken to the Abia State Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) for prompt medical attention.

    As at 9:10 when our reporter visited Egon clinic beside “Ahia Udele” by East, nurses were attending to two males victims who were in great pain while family members of a female victim were making efforts to take their loved one for the scan to ascertain if there were internal bleeding.

    A member of her family told our reporter that from the doctor’s observation, it seems like the lady fractured her legs.

    According to him, “I am a footballer. I stay in Rivers State but was in Aba for the weekend. I was going to the bank to make a withdrawal from a nearby ATM before heading to the park for Port Harcourt. While I was waiting for some distance from the scene, the accident happened.

    Because I have been helping an accident victim, I rushed to the scene to meet the lady who turned out to be my relation lying haplessly on the road with two other persons. People abandoned them, thinking that they have died. Policemen at the checkpoint at Waterside came and peeped at them and left the scene.

    “A police patrol van came, slowed down and moved on without even assisting the victims. On a closer inspection, I realised that she and others were still breathing. It was at that point that people around helped to move them into keke that brought them to this (Egon Clinic) for medical treatment.”

    Another source who gave his name as Kingsley attributed the cause of the accident to over-speeding and loss of control by the driver of a “J5” car heading towards the bridge from Ogbor Hill which rammed into the tricycles and passersby.

    Kingsley stated that the whereabouts of the driver and the conductor were not yet known as at the time of our reporter’s visit to the scene.

    “Somebody parts of the man who died on the spot was picked from different locations because it was ripped into pieces. It was so bad that they were packed into a nylon,” Kingsley narrated.

    Also speaking at the scene of the accident, a civil right activist and Aba-based lawyer, Barr. Saint Moses Ogbonna described the incident as unfortunate and called for the relocation of police checkpoints and bus stops on the bridge.

    According to Ogbonna, the loss of life on the Ogbor Hill bridge is becoming worrisome and needs urgent action from the state government to save more lives from being lost on the bridge due to the recklessness of drivers and activities of policemen who he accused of causing gridlock bridge and using the checkpoint as a toll collection point.