Questions: For those citizens most comfortable with the stifling stagnation, filth and gross lack of infrastructural development in Abia state alongside the other flank staunchly defending the crass incompetence, inefficiency and gross absence of visionary leadership there since its creation in 1991, please do well to answer the following questions:
1. Have many businesses not closed down in Abia (more especially in Aba) as a result of the very bad business climate there in the past thirty years?
2. How many new businesses have actually opened in Abia state and are still down there running and making profits in the past ten years?
3. How many businesses in Aba have up to eight hours of power supply each day? And, in view of the epileptic power supply in Abia state generally, what efforts has the government made to provide alternative energy sources in order to sustain good business and social climate in the state?
4.How many businesses in Abia are not putting up with multiple taxation just trying to produce or convey goods and services?
5. Are the real costs of doing business in Aba not too high when compared to Onitsha,Nnewi, Sango-Ota?etc, what single comparative advantage has Aba (or Abia generally) when compared to other places with business clusters?
6. How easy is it to acquire a piece of land in Abaor Umuahia, the state capital? And how long does it take the Lands department to give approval for a piece of commercial land to be developed in Umuahia or Aba or any other place in the state?
7. How long does it take to register and successfully process and obtain a Certificate of Occupancy from the Land Registry in Umuahia? Does it not still take ages? Are there not corrupt practices deliberately laid as traps that frustrate prospective land buyers and business owners thereby encumbering meaningful business progress?
8. How practicable is it for eighteen-wheeler truck or a petrol tanker to move from Umuahia, the state capital through Uzuakoli, Bende, Abriba, Ohafia to Arochukwu and back to Umuahia? Is such a trip practically possible in the 21st century Abia state?
Questions on Social services and welfare:
9a. How many general hospitals or publicly owned hospitals are truly functional in Abia state?
9b. How many of them are in such ramshackle and deplorable state only open for Mortuary services?
9c. And how many of such hospitals have resident doctors residing and working in the local government areas where the general hospitals are located? Put in any form, how many resident doctors working in Abia state reside outside of Umuahia, the state capital?
10. The Federal Medical Centre,Umuahia is always filled to the brim by patients. Is this situation not because many of the patients come from the seventeen local government areas of the state knowing full well that FMC is their only hope,where they could receive any semblance of health care?
11. How many general hospitals have either been built or reconstructed and well equipped by successive governments in Abia state since 1999?
12. How many Abia citizens(patients) die each year as a result of their being conveyed on very bad roads from their local government areas just trying to access health care at FMC in Umuahia?
12. How many kilometers of roads have been constructed in Abia state since 1999?
13. How many bridges have been constructed in Abia state since 1999?
14. How many pregnant women die in Abia state each year due to gross absence of well-equipped primary health care near them or due to not having access to medical doctors, pharmacists, midwives, etc., and so resort to self-medication or herbal medicine?
Questions on primary and secondary education:
14. How many public primary and secondary schools have been constructed or rehabilitated in Abia state
since 1999?
15. How many primary and secondary schools have basic physical facilities such as Administrative blocks, libraries stocked with relevant and recommended textbooks, science laboratories (for secondary), multipurpose laboratories (for primary), computer laboratories (or ICT Centers), home economics laboratories, technical drawing studios, musical studios, wood and metal workshops, sick bays, well equipped sport fields, etc.
16. Are teachers and other staff’s salaries and allowances regularly (or irregularly)paid in Abia state?
17. Are civil servants’ salaries and allowances regularly (or irregularly) paid in Abia state?
17. Are pensioners stipends regularly (or hardly) paid in Abia state?
18. What percentage of Abia citizens have access to potable water supply?
19. How high (or low) is the happiness/misery index (or quality of human life) of the people resident in Abia state when compared to the national average?
21. How many Abia students in tertiary institutions have ever been given any scholarship (or Bursary allowances) since 1991 till date?
22. What percentage of Abia citizens in the rural areas have access to electricity, the Internet, pipe borne water, etc.
Questions on Agriculture and Farming in Abia state:
23. How many farmers have ever received incentives through the Ministry of Agriculture in Umuahia from 1991 till date?
24. How easy is it for farmers to access loans through government assisted farming programmes? does any programme that seek to help farmers exist in any form in Abia state?
25. How many farmers, through the government of Abia state, have access to fertilizers, improved varieties or technical assistance?
26a. Is there any good reason why the Palm plantations and Rubber plantations in Bende, Amaeke Abam, Nkporo respectively, which were established by Dr. Michael Okpara, cannot be rehabilitated and made functional in view of the high incidence of unemployment and poverty in Abia?
26b. Is it not a tragedy that these enterprises, which were the goose that laid the golden eggs in the old Eastern region are mindlessly abandoned instead of being urgently revitalized, so as to expand and deepen the Revenue base and viability of Abia state?
27. Is there any government initiative that is agriculture oriented or farming related such as Agro-allied industry or Integrated farming programmes aimed at food security or useful engagement of the teeming army of unemployed youths in Abia state from 1999 till date?
28. Does the government of Abia state have any clear policy on Agriculture that has led to any productive venture in any form from 1999 to date? if there is, what is it called? what has been itsimpact on the people of the state?
Where the rain started beating NDI ABIA: The rain started beating ndi Abia right from the creation of the state in 1991 Abia state has never been blessed with good, selfless and visionary leaders who fear God Almighty. Each regime comes with enormous hope and promise ,after a few months or years, such hope is rudely dashed; and it fizzles out as each administration goes the way of the others, and in some cases even worse than the ones before them. This situation has always forced many well-meaning citizens to wonder, if indeed, Abia state is not somehow jinxed.
Is Abia state truly open for business? By that, it’s meant the business of good governance. The business of uplifting the people, of meeting their needs and complimenting their hopes and aspirations by improving the quality of their lives in any way that is legitimately possible?
Answer: Abia is neither open for business nor is it business friendly. This statement is made with all sense of responsibility. For, all the indices that sustain business and make it thrive are grossly lacking, neglected or non-existent. Truth be said, Abia is in a perpetual lockdown and/or recumbent disposition, never growing and never aspiring to anything lofty or inspiring. Its immense economic potentials remain unexplored, unreleased and un-utilised as a result of gross absence of the enabling environment which permits business to thrive. Abia state perfectly fits the character of the third servant in the Parable of the Talents in Mathew 25:14-30. He received only one talent from his master, but mindlessly buried it in the ground…
The way forward: For business to thrive, goods and services must be moved with ease. Nothing enables business and rapid growth faster than integrated transportation system, be it by sea, air, rail or road. Unfortunately, Abia is landlocked, does not have an airport, and lacks the resources or vision to initiate a mono-rail system that connects the towns and villages; since federal government has exclusive rights over the federal railway lines. But nothing prevents states in Nigeria from initiating ,or constructing infrastructures that sustain the integration of public and private transportation system within and between their municipalities or major urban centers.
The roads in Abia, to say the least, are about some of the worst in Nigeria. Abia is not open or ready for business when business is hampered by very bad and impassible roads. The poor state of the roads in Abia state has remained a major source of embarrassment for well- meaning citizens of the state. The Internet is replete with pictures of school children wading in flood water or sewage water in Aba township, or traders selling their wares in flooded streets and filthy environment with overflowing refuse bins and swarming houseflies in and around Ariaria. These are the pictures of Abia state the world sees on daily basis, year after year; administration after administration. There are the pictures of Abia that potential investors see and refrain from coming to Abia state with their hard- earned money or investment portfolios.
It is a known fact that it is extremely difficult to access most communities in the state by road. The situation is so bad especially in the rainy season and indeed any other season that many Abia citizens access their hometowns through other states such as Enugu, Akwa Ibom or Ebonyi. To achieve this, very long, and circuitous routes and detours are followed just to avoid the Abia end of the road as much as is practicable. Many had died trying to do so while un-quantifiable business hours are wasted on the roads that are truly death-traps.
How did Abia come to this sorry state of affairs? Successive governments in Abia right from creation have continued to pay lip service to the provision of basic infrastructure such as roads, primary health care, hospitals, rural electrification, construction of bridges, erosion control, construction of schools, etc. How then can Abia be open for business when the enabling environment which encourages the people’s resourcefulness is unavailable? It goes without saying that such an environment must be intentionally created and made available for the unlocking of the ingenuity and creativity of the people.
In order to return Abia on the part of progress and promise envisioned at its creation in 1991, Aba must regain its lost glory by attracting businessmen and women from far flung places such as Cameroun, Ghana, Togo and so on-as was the case in the eighties and early nineties. Its strategic importance must be restored and deliberately enhanced. If handled with the requisite vision and political will, Aba could become the engine room that drives the industrialization goals of the entire South East and beyond. If the infrastructure deficit is taken care of and Aba rebuilt to regain its strategic importance, the Internally Generated Revenues accruable from Aba alone could, no doubt, match the state’s share of monthly allocation from the Federation Account.
Ariaria International market, for instance, requires total reconstruction, just as the drainage system in much of Aba township including the roads and bye-ways.
Where there is vision, this can be done through Public-Private Partnership initiatives. The new Margaret Umahi International Market, Abakaliki is a good regional model for the current political leaders in Abia to understudy and take copiousnotes from whenever the re-modeling of Ariaria commences.
The lessons to learn from Ebonyi state are several. Nothing empowers and elevates the quality of human life in the modern society more than infrastructural development. Dubai is a tourist destination today simply because of the vision and selfless service of their founding fathers and their giant strides in infrastructural development. You cannot solve the problem of unemployment if you totally neglect infrastructural development. You cannot attract top flight investors if you are not interested in infrastructural development. Rapid development in a state such as Abia that is essentially agrarian or rural is intrinsically linked to physical development without which underdevelopment becomes intractable and difficult to tackle.
More importantly, the example from Ebonyi shows that it is possible to achieve so much with so little and that it’s possible to conduct trading activities in a beautiful, business friendly setting without flooded and impassable roads, or traders selling their wares in and around overflowing garbage dumps.
ABIA AIRPORT:It begs the question to start any argument on whether or not Abia state terribly needs an airport.It hell does. Abia desperately needs an Airport. This is the 21st century,not the 19th century!It beats one hollow to think that successive political leaders in Abia never saw the need for an airport and so never dreamt or envisioned such a lofty dream.
Succinctly put, nothing enhances the business readiness of a people more than an airport. It’s a modern day necessity, a business aid rather than a luxury. The importance of an airport in driving modern business cannot be over-emphasized. Thus, the vision of industrializing Abia can never be actualized if the concomitant infrastructural components that will drive that vision are not factored into the mix. For a land locked state such as Abia, it goes without saying that the establishment of an airport must be given a top priority. That there is one located in a contiguous state, and so none should be located in Abia is such a lame-duck proposition that runs contrary to the best interest of the state. Airports are never enough in terms of number. For instance, New York State in the United States of America alone has 665 public airports. The capital city, New York New York has three airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia and Newark.
Airports are never too many, and indeed never enough because it is at the heart of modern business, just as the Internet or the Stock Exchange. To underestimate its importance is to be perpetually condemned to the shallows of penury and under performance. A state without an Airport is like a ship permanently docked in the harbour with furled sails and a missing captain. Right there at the dock sits a ship that cannot sail the magical seven seas and of course the beautiful oceans of the world. It is a tragedy to spend a lifetime sitting at the quays without sailing. It vividly illustrates the tragic and colossal wastage of what could happen to a people when there is lack of vision or requisite courage or competence essential in uplifting a people and guiding them to tread the part of greatness.
Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe knew what I’m talking about and initiated the Imo airport against all odds. So did former Governors of Akwa Ibom, Obong Victor Atta and Godswill Akpabio, also Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state and Governor Willy Obiano of Anambra state respectively. They know what the availability of an airport does to business enterprises or entrepreneurial drive of a people. They know that an airport unlocks immense potentials and opens up a place for serious business.
Only an airport can drive the techno-industrial hub which the new Ariaira promises and requires.
An airport in Abia will accelerate commerce, stimulate economic growth and induce general socio-cultural well-being of the people. It will boost tourism, create new jobs and open new vistas of opportunities.
THE 2023 ELECTION CIRCLE IN ABIA STATE: Instructively, for Abia to climb out of the quagmire it has crawledinto and remained since creation in 1991, the next election circle in 2023 offers a veritable opportunity for Abia citizens, including political leaders to break from the toxic, wasteful, directionless, visionless and unprofitable politics that has kept Abia in the doldrums for so long.
Efforts must be geared at electing credible leaders who understand and share in the pain and plight of Abians, and therefore must insist on nothing less than good governance at both the state and the local government levels. Anything other than that will be most tragic and most unfortunate. So much time has been wasted, and valuable resources frittered away in servicing corruption, visionlessness, ineptitude and incompetence. Never again should Abia state be made to go through the tortuous routes of the past forty years which brought nothing to the people except untold hardship, poverty, misery and stagnation.
Abia must be placed on the trajectory of industrialization. Factories must be established and the people put to work. Agro-based industries such as the rubber and palm plantations in Bende, Nkporo and Amaeke Abam respectively should be revitalized to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed young people.
In the new Abia as envisioned, the seventeen local government areas should be retooled, retrained repositioned and made viable business units thriving with cottage industries as the new Techno-industrial hubs. Our local government areas should be places with socio-economic amenities that can sustain businesses. Thus, rural areas in Abia should not be abandoned and forgotten places bereft of basic amenities and left behind in the stride toward inclusive and sustainable development. Such places should be opened up through the provision of social amenities; construction of internal roads, establishment of cottage industries, rural electrification, health facilities, schools, industrial and technological clusters, Sports facilities, etc. With good road network in place, for instance, farmers will have easier access to the towns and cities using good roads for the evacuation of their farm produce.
Imagine the impact this development would have on the socio-economic life of the people, if places such as Ukwa, Ohafia, Ugwunagbo, Abriba, Bende, Isukwuato, Ihube, Uturu, Arochukwu, Isukwuato, Ikwuano, Umunneochi, were linked up by rapid infrastructural development and on the same page in most things. Imagine Abia state with all the local government areas linked up by good internal road network, good water supply systems, well-funded public schools, well-staffed and well-equipped hospitals, well equipped Sports centers, functional cottage industries, techno-industrial business hubs, thriving integrated farm businesses, etc.
If the enabling environment is created, more investors will come to Abia because investment follows infrastructural development and not the other round. Businesses will flourish in a business-friendly climate. If Abia creates such a setting, there will definitely be more opportunities as more people get usefully engaged, life expectancy in Abia state will drastically improve reducing the high frequency of funerals and the general misery index.
However, as things stand at the moment, Abia is not yet open for business. It is held down by gross lack of vision, mediocrity, incompetence,ill-will, poor taste, lack of courage and sheer lack of determination to make a difference through selfless serviceaimed primarily at upliftingmillions out of ruinous poverty and stagnation.
Abia needs help! Abia needs that help now! All hands must be on deck! Abia must be rescued from those who have held it hostage for decades in order to beplaced on the trajectory of rapid growth, inclusivity andsustainable development.
Osita di nma! ©Mazi
No comments