South-East unhappy over abandoned FG projects

IN Southeast geo-political zone, there are several abandoned Federal Government projects. Some of these projects include: Oji-River Power Station in Oji-River Local Government Area of Enugu State, Onyeama and Okpara Coal Mines, Enugu and Adada Dam in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of the Enugu State. Enugu/PortHarcourt Expressway, 9th Mile/Obollo-Afor Road, Enugu/Onitsha road, among others.

Nigerian Tribune investigation revealed that successive regimes at the centre had turned their eyes away from the aforementioned projects, prompting many Nigerians of eastern extraction to suggest that it was part of the authority’s deliberate actions to marginalise Ndigbo.

For instance, there was jubilation in Enugu during the era of Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo when the then presidency promised that the Oji-River Power Station was going to be revived. But today the story of Oji-River Power Station which was once the pride of Ndigbo is still a sad one as it has become a home for rodents, reptiles and hoodlums.

Last year, precisely May 31, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, during an inspection of the facility, lamented the poor state of the Oji River coal power plant, expressing displeasure that most of its operating parts had been dismantled.

The minister, who was represented by his Special Adviser on policy and legal matters,  Olanrewaju Akinsola, lamented that some persons had attempted to turn a potential source of growth, development, and shared prosperity into a source of risk, poverty, and pollution.

“My recent visit to Oji River coal power plant in Enugu, which used to supply most, if not all, of Eastern Nigeria, showed that not only is the power plant no longer in use, most of its operating parts had been dismantled,” Fashola said.

A visit to  Onyeama and Okpara Coal Mines, reveals a gory picture of the coal Corporation, Enugu. For many residents of Enugu, it is worrisome that the Federal Government had continued to abandon the Coal Industry which was once the main source of energy to the country.

Nduka Mba lamented  how the coal mines are now in isolation. “The advent of oil and gas affected coal in no small measure and, too, the Nigeria Coal Corporation was the main supplier for some industries. When the Nkalagu Cement Company was fully operational and its services ran fully on coal, the railways were running on locomotive. At the time, Oji-River was running on coal while all of these establishments that were running on coal then, depended on the Nigerian Coal Corporation. So, you can see that whatever affected any of these affected Coal Corporation”

Another Federal Government project abandoned in Igboland is Adada Dam in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State. Happily, the present government in Enugu State has shown interest in seeing to the completion of the project. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi shortly after assuming office, visited the project where he sought to know the capacity of the dam and its benefits to the people.

Ironically, between 2015 and now, neither the state nor Federal Government has taken concrete action on the dam project.

The contractor, Justine Ihedioha,who lamented inadequate fund as the the major setback to the progress of the work, is yet to fulfill his promise despite the fact that he assured the governor of quality job delivery.

Mr. Ihedioha had explained that the dam had capacity of 1.3 million cubic meters of water supply all year round when completed and allayed fears of low strength of giving enough water needs of the target communities. `This river is not perennial; anybody who is saying that this cannot sustain the water demands of the communities,may not be right`.he stressed.

Indeed, the N2bn Adada River Dam embarked upon by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources has become a cause of concern to the people of Uzo-Uwani and its neighbouring communities.  The people of Aku community in Igbo-Etiti Local Government  under the auspices of Aku Progressive Forum (APF) had since requested Governor Ugwuanyi to sustain his administration’s efforts at engaging the federal government towards the completion of Adada Dam federal project.

The request was contained in a communiqué’ issued at the end of a one-day thank you for support and solidarity rally in honour of Governor Ugwuanyi by the community, in appreciation of his landmark achievements since the inception of his administration despite the harsh economic situation in the country which has drastically dwindled the state’s revenue inflow.

On issue of abandoned roads, the Enugu government has brought relief to the people of the state as it has intervened with works going on the  Onitsha/Enugu and 9th Mile/Obollo-Afor roads.