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The Igbo Ukwu Community in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State may soon become one of the tourists’ hubs in Nigeria following the renovation of an 87-year-old building by the Ubabukoh dynasty, close to the famous Igbo Ukwu museum.
Igbo Ukwu is the community of the former governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife. Senator Uche Ekwunife also hails from the community.
The 87-year-old building, seen as the first in the community and entire old Aguata, erected by the first millionaire in the area, the late Chief John Ubabukoh, the father of the late journalism icon, Ifeanyi Ubabukoh, will undergo renovation in November.
The first grandson of the famous millionaire, Mr Ozioma Ubabukoh, who is also the media aide to the former minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, made the disclosure to journalists at Igbo Ukwu.
He said since Anambra has a Commercial City in Onitsha, Industrial City in Nnewi, Capital City in Awka, while Ekwulobia’s status in Aguata has not been defined, Igbo Ukwu will take the responsibility of being the Cultural City, since the museum is equally located there.
Ubabukoh said: “This can come in as the first upstairs in Igbo Ukwu. It can come in as a way of retelling our story, a way of reintroducing Igbo Ukwu on the map again.
“A way of creating a new messaging of Igbo Ukwu culture in Igboland, just like in America and the UK, there is a building that stayed for 87 years and is still standing, and it is not going to go down anytime soon. And, now, we are trying to make strong the Igbo culture again, using our monuments, our monumental buildings, our heritage.
“And then you expect government to key into it. That’s what I expect. It’s a personal project, a private project. And what’s the idea? The idea is simple. To encourage the arts. It’s to encourage culture. It’s to encourage tourism. It’s to promote our common heritage. That’s the whole idea. And then, again, we see it as a revenue spinner for the state government. Because it’s a matter of time.
“In the next five, six, seven years, a good job would have been done with this. It will be nice to see people land at the international airport in Lagos, and they say, “Oh, we are coming to see the oldest or the first storey building in Igbo-Ukwu. And not just in Igbo-Ukwu, but because Igbo-Ukwu is a town for arts.
It’s a town for culture. It’s the ancestral land of the Igbo people. So you can see, it’s not about just the first storey building. It’s the first storey building in the ancestral land of the Igbo. It’s the first storey building in the town that is known for arts, that is known for archaeology.”
He was not alone as the current eldest surviving son of the late millionaire, Mr Okechukwu Ubabukoh, 73, who was once the General Manager of Nigerdock and former Director of Finance, ICAN, echoed the same
He said:” The building belongs to Ozioma. Whatever he chooses to do with it, we are solidly behind him. When this comes alive with the museum around here, it becomes marriage of art, culture and tourism.”
Also, 86-year old Apostle Emeka Ubabukoh, a nephew to the late millionaire and a cousin to the journalism icon, the late Mr Ifeanyi Ubabukoh, said that Igbo Ukwu community will be blessed the more if such dreams happen in his lifetime. He said it would be the suiting balm to make the late millionaire return to life.
