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By Sunday Ani
Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, has promised to set up a mobile telecommunication base station in Ugbene Ajima community, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, to save the people from dearth of mobile network and address the challenge of insecurity in the area.
He stated this during an interactive chat with the people of the state on social media channel, X, to mark his one year in office.
A native of Ugbene Ajima community, Ebuka Michael, had, during the interactive chat, expressed concern over the security of lives and property in rural communities, noting that the present efforts of the state government to improve agriculture and security would be futile if rural communities were left in the lurch, with no access to mobile networks.
According to him, since creation, the Ugbene Ajima community, located a few communities’ away from Nimbo, has never had a mobile network.
He expressed concern that with the recent attack in the community by suspected herdsmen, border communities like Ugbene, were at risk, a situation worsened by lack of mobile network to coordinate local security efforts.
Ebuka explained that lack of mobile network made it difficult to communicate with security agencies to respond to emerging security threats in the area. According to him, reported cases of farmers killed in their farmlands met with no response from the security agencies because there was no access to mobile networks to alert them of the unfortunate incidents.
He said the community had written a series of letters to telecom providers but they turned deaf ears to the people’s plight.
In his response, Governor Mbah said a base station would be installed in the area to enhance access to mobile networks. “I have taken note of that. I am going to ensure that action is taken to install a base station around that area, so that there will be a network for communities living around that area. I have just taken note of that. I will take action on that. Thank you for bringing that up,” he said.
Chairman of the Concerned People of Ugbene Ajima, Tony Eze, told journalists that the governor had raised the hopes of Ugbene Ajima people, with his promise to install a mobile telecommunications base station in the area.
He described the governor’s intervention as timely, noting that despite the huge agricultural produce of Ugbene community, the area has been robbed of development by the unavailability of mobile network. He said the installation of the base station would open up the communities for development, jump-start small businesses, and enhance swift response to emerging local security challenges.
Ugbene Ajima, an agrarian community located 15 kilometres away from Nsukka township, shares borders with Eziani, Nkpologu, Abbi, Nrobo and Nimbo communities.
The Eziani-Ugbene-Ajima-Nimbo Road constructed by the former governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has become the preferred route for motorists going to Adani and Anambra State. In spite of the huge agricultural potential of the community and business prospects as a transit town, lack of mobile network has left the community largely undeveloped and redolent of age.
