Abia Ready to Partner Multilateral Agencies to Reconstruct 248.46km Roads, Says Otti

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has expressed his government’s readiness to partner multilateral organisations to enable the state reconstruct 248.46 kilometers of roads across the state.

The proposed road rehabilitation programme would be implemented under the Abia State Integrated Infrastructure Development Project (ABSIIDP), coordinated by the office of the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor on Multilateral and Donor Agencies, Mr. Odinaka Eric Eme.
Otti told a delegation of the Federal Ministry of Finance, led by Dr. Oyebola Akande, an Assistant Director in the ministry, that Abia was eagerly awaiting the commencement of the project.

To assure the FMF delegation on working visit of Abia’s willingness to partake in the programme, the state chief executive said that he won’t allow the issue of funding to stand on the way.

He said: “If it requires leveraging, whatever, we have to raise the fund. We will raise the fund because we believe that it is better to do what we have to do now than wait for tomorrow, because you will still spend the money. If you wait till tomorrow you will spend more.

“For us, it makes more sense even if we have to borrow today to deliver the dividends of democracy to our people and then we will think of repay in due course”.
Otti underscored the importance of ASIIDP, noting that many communities would benefit from the programme hence the need to make haste due to the rising and unstable exchange rate and inflation.

Leader of the delegation, Dr. Akande, commended Governor Otti for starting his governance on a good note, saying that he had achieved so much short period he assumed office.

“I was impressed because if you come into governance and within or less than one year you have moved to site, it shows that you really want to affect the people of Abia (positively),” she said.
Akande told the governor that Abia has so much to gain by keying into the infrastructural development project given the impact of good road network on the economy

“I do not have any doubt that this project will add value to your governance because road is essential,” Akande stated, adding, that without roads government would not really achieve.

The SSA on Multilateral and Donor Agencies explained that ABSIIDP is a multi-sector endeavour targeted at contributing to the socio-economic development and poverty alleviation in Abia State.

According to him, the objective would be achieved through the reconstruction of priority roads in Aba and Umuahia; intervention on gully erosion sites in Umuahia and Obingwa; and solid waste management system intervention in Umuahia and Aba.