The people of Umuobasiukwu Kingdom in Ozuitem, Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, recently turned the flag-off of an NDDC emergency road project into a day of jubilation. For a community long cut off by decades of inaccessibility, the commencement of the Umuikwuoma–Ozu and Ozuitem roads, complete with solar streetlights, was nothing short of historic, Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia reports
The excitement that hung in the air was palpable as the people of Umuobasiukwu Kingdom, Ozuitem in Bende Local Government of Abia State swirled in celebration. The gaiety in this rural community recently gave the impression of a communal festival. But it was neither a cultural nor a religious festival. It was the celebration of the flagging-off of the emergency construction of Umuikwuoma–Ozu Road and emergency construction of Ozuitem Road with solar street lights.
The road project meant so much to the benefiting communities, hence the celebration. Cannons boomed to herald the flag-off. A group of joyous women sang and danced, moving in a procession from the road junction where the flag-off ceremony was staged to the palace of the traditional ruler, Eze John O. Akaliro, Obasiukwu II of Umuobasiukwu Kingdom. The merry women chanted “Chineke, ihe I mere di nma”, which translates to What God has done is good. It was an acknowledgement that it could only be through divine intervention that the community was considered as a beneficiary for the emergency road project.
This divine intervention was accentuated by the traditional ruler of Ndiagho, Eze Hardy O. Ejikeme, who declared that “after many years God has heard our cries and raised up” the person that attracted a road project. “This is the development we have been yearning for,” he said. The royal father stated that the construction of the road leading to Ndiambe would definitely change the social and economic life of the community.
It would appear strange that a community would turn the flag-off of a road project into a festival of sorts. But they have their cogent reasons to celebrate. Ndiambe has remained inaccessible for decades, and it has been tales of deprivations and hard life for the forgotten community. Burial of the dead in the community poses challenges due to the difficult terrain. Mrs. Comfort Ewelike said that ambulances “can’t enter our community because there is no road”, hence the body of a dead person would usually be conveyed up to the junction leading to the community. From there, youths would take over and carry the corpse into the community for the funeral ceremony. Mrs. Ngozi Eke, a trader, said that conveying goods to her shop is a herculean task.
According to her, whenever she went to buy goods in the city, the vehicle that would bring her home would discharge her goods at the junction “because there is no road into her community. I would carry the goods on my head to my shop and it’s not an easy thing for me to do at all,” she said. Iheoma Anyalechi noted that the commencement of construction work on the road was enough cause for joy as “nothing like this has ever happened here before”. The roaring of the excavator signalling commencement of work was greeted with cheers by the crowd of people that came for the flagging-off ceremony.
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which awarded the road contract, categorised it as “emergency road construction”. The interventional agency is currently driving accelerated connection of the rural communities with good roads in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration. During the site handover at the royal father’s palace, which preceded the flag-off ceremony, Eze Akaliro expressed his people’s gratitude to the NDDC. “We are happy that we are now being remembered as part of NDDC,” he said. The traditional ruler recalled that in the past, NDDC projects were concentrated in the riverine areas, mostly in the South-South zone component of the coverage area of NDDC.
Akaliro stated that his people have accepted the road project wholeheartedly and assured the NDDC team, led by a director, Engr. Joy Eucharia, that the community would provide every assistance needed to ensure the completion of the road project. He thanked NDDC for awarding the contract to Karm Offshore Services Limited, a firm owned by an indigene of Ozuitem, Mark James. “The contractor is our son,” he enthused, pointing out that Mark James, who is the Managing Director of Karm Offshore Services Limited, understands and appreciates the yearnings of his people, hence he would see to the completion of the project without delay.
Some high-profile personalities from Ozuitem were at the flag-off event to lay credence to the importance attached to the construction of Ndiambe Road. DIG Azubuko J. Udah (rtd) said that the construction of the road would open up the community to new opportunities, boost the local economy and improve social interactions. “We are happy today that the construction of Ndiambe Road is becoming a possibility,” he said, adding, “this road will be transformed from impassable to passable”.
Udah noted that Ozuitem has been primed for development and should indeed prepare to embrace more developmental projects, given that the entire area falls within the radius of Umuahia capital territory. He called for love and unity among the people of Ozuitem in order to expand opportunities for attracting developmental projects.
Prior to the road flag-off, a team of NDDC officials were at the palace of Obasiukwu II for the “site handover”. The project officer for the emergency road construction, Engr. Ndubuisi Nkwoka, who spoke for the NDDC team, explained that it was customary for the agency to formally hand over its project to the benefiting community once the site has been identified and confirmed. The handover form was then signed by Eze Akaliro and two others, including a representative of youths of the community.
In fact, Nkwoka harped on the need for youths to cooperate with both the NDDC and the contractor, saying that youths usually constituted major stumbling blocks to timely execution of NDDC projects. However, he assured the community that, apart from jobs that require technical competence, every other job associated with the road project would be handled by indigenes. The project officer also stated that NDDC made the right choice in engaging Karm Offshore Services Limited (a subsidiary of Gas Group) to handle the project.
Engr. Nkwoka expressed confidence in the contractor’s technical competence, saying that the firm has the capacity to execute the road project according to specifications. He further stated that the NDDC team had inspected the array of equipment deployed to the project site by the contractor. According to him, the equipment are in good condition, hence there won’t be any fear of equipment breakdown which could cause delay in completing the job on schedule.
NDDC got every assurance it needed to proceed with the execution of the project. Eze Akaliro told the team that “we don’t make demands on NDDC”. He said that his people would instead readily provide every assistance needed to facilitate the road construction as a way of expressing their gratefulness for being a beneficiary of the road project. He gave firm assurance that youths would neither disturb NDDC nor the contractor and would also not disrupt work on the road. The Umuobasiukwu royal father even offered accommodation to the NDDC officials in his palace to enable them have a comfortable place to stay while supervising the project.
These good gestures contrast with what obtains in some communities where youths would impose on NDDC payment of ground rates, protection fees, among other frivolous demands. Usually, the ungrateful youths would insist that their demands must be met before the project could take off, even though it was meant for the development of their community. But NDDC and its contractor would not encounter such disruptive activities at Umuobasiukwu Kingdom. Apart from the royal assurances of Eze Akaliro, the Youth President, Chijioke Obuji, also gave his words that youths would not in any manner disrupt the project. He told THISDAY that the support and cooperation of youths is well guaranteed. “This is development that has come to Umuobasiukwu. Everybody must join hands to ensure that the project is completed,” he said.
The flag-off ceremony was a soul-lifting experience for Mark James, Managing Director, Karm Offshore Services Limited. He was practically mobbed by groups of appreciative women and youths that met him after the ceremony to thank him for coming to construct their long-forgotten road. James had earlier assured the people that his firm was well prepared for the job and would diligently construct the road to the highest standard.
Being an indigene of Ozuitem, he shared in the yearnings of his people for developmental projects and has expressed his readiness to make their collective dreams come true. If the people of Umuobasiukwu Kingdom, Ozuitem, should roll out the drums to celebrate the commencement of road construction, they would be over the moon on the day the road project would be inaugurated after completion.
