By Reagan Ufomba
OSISIOMA FLYOVER
GOVERNOR IKPEAZU & MUCH ADO ABOUT MARKS BEFORE EXAMS
I do not know why Governor Ikpeazu information managers are holding back. Most likely, they want to have the last laugh. Certainly, Abia will have the last laugh under Ikpeazu.
Above notwithstanding, it is, however, absurd to have conclusively marked Governor Ikpeazu papers and produced an undeserving scorecard while he’s still in the examination hall.
From hindsight, and for the umpteenth time, the government of Okezie Ikpeazu will emerge strong and tops from the ruins that Abia was.
Without equivocation, all the rotten roads in Aba and environ did not just acquire their notoriety under Ikpeazu. When I returned to the PDP (a party I co-built in 1998/9) we appraised, advised, and agreed that the new design of the Port Harcourt/Enugu expressway under construction will alter the project design of the Osisioma flyover already under construction. We also looked at its importance, the meddlesomeness of the federal government on the Ekeakpara federal road also earmarked for construction by the Ikpeazu government and decided to re-order priority. Construction work started on the road but was stopped by the federal government.
Based on all of the above, it was decided that work on the Osisioma bridge be slowed down until the design around the area is released by the federal government.
This ultimately affected the speed, the funding, and late delivery of the bridge. At some point, I intervened, coordinating a meeting between the Governor, Arab contractors handlers of the Enugu-PH project and the Federal controller of works, Engineer Nwankwo in Umuahia. This attempt was also sabotaged. After several months of dialogue, and back and forth, the design, comprising six lanes, was released, and work has resumed in earnest. I’m really surprised that information managers have not made this public.
Your acclaimed ‘’centre table’’ will soon become a master-piece and a beauty to behold worth the wait.
Sometime in 2018, the Governor had embarked on the vigorous drive for investment partners. I did write on my Facebook page that upon its fruition, such an endeavour will lead to an inflow of cash leading to government ability to meeting her infrastructural and recurrent expenditure obligations, especially payment of salaries, pensions, gratuities and grants.
That is also being achieved with recent bulk payment of salaries, grants and escalation of works on several construction sites including the notorious Ngwa road, Obohia, Ohanku, PH road, Osusu, Omuma, and many others. (Please see an attached complete list of road projects to be delivered this dry season).
Governor Ikpeazu has found his rhythm and the beat shall continue till 2023 and thereafter.
As the government of Okezie Ikpeazu continues to slant heavily on the intangibles – especially on human capital development, sponsorship of overseas scholarships for our young lads, skill acquisition for artisans in China, Turkey and other places, and a monthly stipend for over 1000 families and aides with it’s a multiplier effect on the micro economy, Abia will have the last laugh.
As constantly advocated since returning to the PDP in 2017, I can only call for patience with the Ikpeazu government. I had equally assured that the government is focused on and committed to cleaning the mess he met on ground, including that left behind by irritants and detractors.
Like the noble undertaker he is, Ikpeazu has continued to carry his cross with equanimity, ploughing without looking back, and preferring, instead, to head to the resurrection chapel rather than the cemetery where our collective bones will be interred.
A man who has three years to live has three years to life, and cannot by any imagination be certified dead or written off. It is bestial cruelty at its apogee to award marks while the exam is still on.
Ikpeazu will certainly prove bookmakers very very wrong!
Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba
Abia, 09, 11, 2020
