Modern market, roads, clinics, drainage built
The vast undulating architectural layout is what instantly strikes a first-time visitor. The sprawling market is designed in rolls based on what a consulting architect on the site termed ‘architectural atmospherics.’ The market is devoid of the choking atmosphere that most major markets of its type have come to be known for. At the freshly ‘minted’ Ubani/Ibeku Modern Market at the outskirts of Umuahia, the capital city of Abia State, there are large openings and spaces which allow for free circulation of air and unhindered movements of both buyers and sellers as well as merchandise. The shops and stalls are neatly arranged in rows and sections according to the types of business or trading each group of traders is engaged in.
When The Nation visited the market, frantic efforts were being made by both the traders and the construction workers to put finishing touches to the shops and other facilities. The roads have been asphalted.
The Chairman of the Relocation Committee of the Ubani/Ibeku Modern Market, Sir Ebenezer Offor, said: “We are relocating the old market to this new one. The old market is at the centre of the town. It is an eyesore for anybody coming into the town. When you get into that Okpara Square, you see that the place is very noisy, very dirty. You see all sorts of things, keke, wheel barrows and other things around that place. It is not good for the state capital.”
Any transparency in the relocation exercise?
Offor, a retired civil servant who claimed to have a reputation as a strict incorruptible person, said: “They know I don’t take and I don’t give. Those who are working with me have to follow my footsteps. Anybody who does that will be dealt with. We are now focusing on the people who have sheds in the old market. When we are through with them then from next week we’ll start considering those who do not have sheds in the old market.”
The Ubani/Ibeku Modern Market is one of the major legacy projects that the administration of Governor Theodore Orji is bequeathing to the people of Abia State. Apart from the market being equipped with most of the needed facilities, there is also a school and a clinic. There is a housing estate very close to the market. Roads are being built and widened into the new market. Also introduced by the government are brand new buses carrying the traders to the market and back to town at a much reduced price. One of the traders quipped: “What else do you need? It’s a question of doing your business and going back to town.”
Granting audience to The Nation, the governor spoke at length regarding the evolution of the new market.
“You have a market at the centre of the town, obstructing the aesthetics of the whole place and stalling the development and expansion of the town. It is incumbent on me to remove the market to another place so that Umuahia will expand. Some people don’t realise that these things need sacrifices from the citizens. If you check history, you’ll see that relocating a market is not easy, especially this one in Umuahia. The idea of relocating it first came up in 1935. Since then till now, no government has been able to do it because the traders had been resisting it. But the approach we took made it easy for the relocation and the traders are extremely happy.”
Governor Orji claimed that the government built the new market without assistance from anybody. And, according to him, the standard of the shops is very high. He stated: “If you evaluate the cost of each, you’ll know the cheapest you can get it for is about N1.5 million. Some people would be willing to pay that. But I said no, these are traders, we have to help them. That is a very magnanimous gesture on the part of the government. The traders are on their own moving into the market without being forced.“
The Nation also paid a fact-finding visit to the recently relocated industrial market housing largely those who are dealing in building and industrial materials. The traders moved into the market a couple of months previously. The Nation noticed a number of lapses in the market. The roads have not been fully asphalted as that of the main Ubani/Ibeku market. The drainage system is also noticeably poor.
The governor, during his interaction with The Nation, acknowledged the lapses. “We are not totally through with the work on the industrial market. We made some mistakes in the relocation of the industrial market and we are being guided by that in handling the Ubani/Ibeku Modern Main Market. When we wanted to relocate the industrial market, the workers were extremely hesitant and very aggressive. They even took us to court. Then we had to put our foot on ground to tell them they had to move. Therefore, we were building as they were moving in. Now that they have moved in, we are sting building, making the drainages, asphalting the roads so that the place will be conducive for them. We are still on the development; we are not through with it,” he said.
Orji was asked to react to the criticism from some quarters alleging that he is concentrating all the legacy projects in Abia Central, especially Umuahia axis where he hails from. He gave this defence: “I am the governor of Abia State; the whole of Abia State voted for me. And as such, they are supposed to be participatory in government. We don’t discriminate here in terms of sharing the dividends of democracy. We have three major senatorial zones: Abia North, Abia Central and Abia South. I am from Abia Central. But that does not mean that Abia North and Abia South are neglected. We are spreading development to all the nooks and cranies of Abia State.”
He spoke further: “Starting with Abia South which is Aba area, Greenfield is building a major mall in Osisioma, very close to Aba. There they are going to develop 600 stores of international standard. They have started work. We’ve given them land and they have already started work. ABIC is also building another market in the same area. We are also developing another market in Ukwa East. You know Aba is mainly a commercial area. We have a specialist and diagnostic centre in Aba. We are building a major operating theatre in Abia State University Teaching Hospital in Aba. These are all in Abia South.
“We have built a lot of roads in the whole of Abia South. Virtually all the local governments have been touched. Aba urban, especially, has witnessed unprecedented road construction, or rehabilitation. We are also making sure that Aba is neat. There is a lot of environmental improvement. Refuse is being carted away on daily basis. People are no longer complaining. In that same Aba, if there is any rainfall, you’ll notice minimal flooding because we undertook the opening up of all drains and construction of new ones to channel flood water into Aba River.
“We are also helping Geometrics, the private power station, in Aba in many ways including construction of roads and waiver of taxes to make sure that the company starts generating power. We are encouraging the small scale industries that are all there. And more importantly, we have provided good security for the whole of Abia South, especially Aba because the major security lapses we were having in those dark days came from that zone – from Aba, Obingwa and Ukwa West. Now it is no longer like that. In Abia South also the courtrooms are being renovated, schools are built, hospitals are being upgraded and additional ones – general are being built in Aba, Osisioma, Ogunabo and Ukwa East Local Government Areas, Okipe.”
Focusing on Abia North, he declared: “It is the same story in Abia North Senatorial Zone. We have also constructed numerous roads. In Isikwatto Local Government Area, we have about five roads undergoing construction. Some of them have been completed. Also in Umuneji, we have done roads and completed a bridge that was a problem in that locality. We are building a general hospital in Arochukwu. We are building another one in Ohafia and Izia. We are renovating the schools in these areas. We are also working on Ndioji/Ndi Okereke, a major road that had remained bad for donkey years – it is through this road food items are transported from the rural areas to the urban areas. They don’t have another road. By the time we leave office we want to make it an express road. The people of the area are extremely happy about the development.
“We have entered into an MOU with a company that is going to produce cement in Arochukwu which is blessed with a lot of limestone deposit. We have250 health centres all over Abia State and they are adequately distributed to Abia North, Abia Central and Abia South. Those who criticise us do so out of ignorance because they don’t know what is on ground. “
