THE number of abandoned state government projects in Anambra State will make an average citizen to weep on a daily basis. Concerned observers have therefore wondered why, in spite of the claim that government is a continuum; mega projects initiated by previous state governments are not given any form of attention by the present government and the other governments before it?
Some highbrow Anambra State indigenes, who spoke to The Nation, said the most painful and embarrassing of such abandoned projects seems to be the Government House, Awka, started by former Military Governor, Col. Mike Attah, over 20 years ago.
Since then, successive governments in the state, including Lt-Col. Rufai Garuba, Navy Capt. Emmanuel Ukaegbu, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, Dr. Chris Ngige, Mr. Peter Obi, Dame Virgy Etiaba and now Chief Willie Obiano, have left the gigantic edifice to rot.
The Nation learnt that the Government House project, initiated by Attah in 1996, was awarded to an oil construction company at the cost of N650 million then.
After the termination of the military regime in 1999, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju re-awarded the contract to the same company at the cost of one billion naira.
A source alleged that at that time, the state government was paying the contractor N10million each month whether or not it worked on the site.
However, when Dr. Chris Ngige took over the reign of power in the state, he cancelled the Irrevocable Payment Order (IPO) which entailed the deduction of N10million from the government coffers each month for the project.
The action of the then governor, we learnt, caused a major face-off between the state government and the contracting firm, a rift that has allegedly remained unresolved till date in the state.
When Peter Obi came to power in 2006, Anambra State indigenes, according to a respondent, “thought it was time to restart the abandoned project, but all to no avail. Rather, he went into the journey of repainting the old Government House along the Enugu-Onitsha express way.
“Also, when Obi left, people thought it was the turn of Obiano to remember the abandoned project, but the same attitude is still being displayed by the government of the day,” he lamented.
Instead of completing the Government House project, The Nation gathered that Obiano, in June 2014, when he was barely 100 days in office, flagged off what he called “Three arms zone” ultra-modern complex at Agu-Awka, on a land measuring 830 hectares.
Sources said the idea was conceived by former governor Obi before his exit, but Obiano explained that the new Government House project would host the Government House, Governor’s Lodge, the Banquet Hall and the State House of Assembly when completed.
But The Nation reports that after the flag off of the three arms zone, the place has equally been abandoned. There is no single activity going on in the place, which is now a thick bush.
Many other crucial multi-million naira projects abandoned in the state include the N500 million state stadium initiated by former Governor Chris Ngige at Ndiora Amansea, Awka North Council Area.
Another stadium at the centre of Awka, which was flagged-off by Obi has been taken over by weeds.
Also, the Foundry and Machine Tools project, otherwise known as (FOMTOP) at Ozubulu, founded by Mbadinuju, had been abandoned by successive administrations.
The $44 million project with a Chinese firm, which started skeletal activities before the governor vacated his seat in 2003, has been in comatose.
Also the Nkwelle-Ezunaka Poultry Farm, which was started by the military regime, was functional and was producing so much eggs and chicks that traders came from far and near to patronize the farm. It has since been abandoned.
Our investigation shows that the farm became moribund at the middle of Mbadinuju’s regime. Unfortunately, successive state administrations had continued to use the farm to play politics.
Commenting on the spate of abandoned multi-billion projects in Anambra State, Comrade Osita Obi told The Nation that “it shows failure of governance in Anambra State.”
He said all those involved in such abandoned projects must be made to pay, adding that Anambra State had become a dumping ground of abandoned projects.
According to him, “These are not only the projects initiated by our so called leaders, but those we voted into power have continued to waste our funds. Just take a trip to all the communities in Anambra; you will see roads awarded for the past 10 years by our so called governors without any work on them.
“Everybody has become a contractor in Anambra State, including some traditional rulers. It is a pity and tomorrow they will tell us to vote them for a second term, shame on them,” Obi fired.
All the calls to the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ogbuefi Tony Nnacheta and the Commissioner for Works, Law Chinwuba were not answered by the duo.
