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Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, is a major town in the southeastern part of Nigeria. Next to Onitsha Main Market, the acclaimed largest market in West Africa, is probably Ariaria Market,Aba. That market has a good history given that it was relocated from the town on account of a fire in the early 1970s, where it was known as Ekeoha Market, to the present location named Ariaria, which was in the outskirts of the town at that time. It has since become a very popular market. Onitsha market is noted to have held the position of the largest market in West Africa on the basis of geographical size and volume of goods.
The Ariaria Market and other manufacturing activities make Aba the next commercial nerve centre of Igboland. Aba has been a traditional market town for the Igbo people of the tropical rain forest before the establishment of the British military there in 1901. Since the 1930s, Aba had become a settled urban community, and is now be a large industrial and commercial centre and home of mega malls. A 30-kilomertre pipeline from the Imo River natural gas field is meant to provide power for Aba’s industrial estate. How effective that has been is maybe a subject of debate given the epileptic or even failed state of power supply in the state, and the country.
Aba has a pride of place in Abia State and in the hearts of people born and bred in the city. Recently, an organization known as Umu Aba Worldwide, which literally translates to children of Aba across the globe, placed a congratulatory advertisement for Dr. Alex Otti, the Governor-elect of Abia State. Membership of the group is open to everyone born and bred in the town, irrespective of where you reside. Many members of the group, including its global president, Chief Ernest Ukaiwo Ezuma, live in the United States of America and other places in the world. They are bonded by the town from where they are rooted, not as indigenes but a place their parents went in search of greener pastures and gave birth to them in that commercial centre. Many people, including Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, have their roots in the town. They have an affinity with the town, where many of them went to primary and secondary school. They all have concern for the town and the state at large. The barrage of congratulatory messages from Umuaba Worldwide and other groups for Dr. Alex Otti, stem from love for the state and huge expectations for the impending helmsman.
Abia State does not seem to stand its ground in the comity of states in the nation, given its below-par performance in infrastructural development and mounting debts in salary and pension arrears. Abia came into being in 1991 through the instrumentality of the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida who excised Abia from Imo, Enugu and Anambra among others. To make matters worse, the state does not rank on the top among those with sizable internally generated revenue. Somehow, it has not turned the heavy commercial activities in Aba into financial benefits . Over the years, the state has acquired notoriety for owing workers and lacking in ability to remedy infrastructural deficits. Governors in the state, in quick succession, have had to contend with financial paucity, leading to obvious inability to deliver expected dividends of democracy. When such basic things as salary become herculean tasks, the inevitable consequence is that other things will fall into deficit.
The tendency has been for governors of the state to be labelled predators who came to line their pockets rather than help the state. This may be far from the truth for a state that has an evident revenue problem. It may also be true because leaders are elected to solve problems, not to wring their hands in helplessness. They saw the dire situations before presenting themselves for election. The people elect them to proffer solutions, not to lament about the magnitude of the problems.
Abia State appears to have moved in a trajectory that makes the public see its leaders in bad light. Virtually all governors who traversed the state on call of duty have tended to be dressed in borrowed robes or plastered with the mud of disdain on account of unsatisfactory performance. They seem not to have met the expectations of the citizens of the state, which is why the people hold the widespread view that loads of money go into private pockets rather than into the coffers of contractors who build roads or bridges or such things. This is the challenge ahead of Dr. Alex Otti. He must break the jinx of poor performance and etch his name in the sands of time. Such is the stuff outstanding leaders are made of. The people have given him their trust and mandate and no excuse must be given to them. Dr. Otti has been consistent and tenacious in his pursuit of this position, a clear indication that he is propelled by the need to make a difference. He recently assembled a team of eggheads to help him shape a direction for his regime. He is not a magician who would turn around everything in 100 days, but by that timeline it should be evident that he is taking the state to the right place. His is one of the biggest challenges in the incoming dispensation. He must acquit himself creditably.
