Aba: City Under Infrastructural Aromatherapy 

…as hope rises following new wave on road recovery

.

BY CHUKWUEBUKA OHIZU

.

Get it engraved somewhere very important, get it documented in a serious place for prospective political leaders, and have it placed where serving political leaders will see it and borrow a leaf from it, “that good governance is a healing tool.”

.

There is no globally acceptable way to describe good governance. What may be good for an American could be bad for an Arab. Therefore, one should not be tempted to believe that what an Abian described as signs of good governance may be accepted as the same in Lagos.

.

That leaves the definition of good governance to geographical, environmental, cultural and peculiar circumstances. Frankly speaking, good governance is the only miracle, courage and encouragement that citizens of a suffering state like Abia need to stay alive.

.

In Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, what looked like a mirage of emerging good governance has metamorphosed into a clear picture of true governance and everybody can say, so far so good with the time still counting.

.

One funny thing about leadership especially political leadership in Nigeria is that nobody is held responsible for failure in keeping to their campaign promises, but when one tries to keep some of those promises, it is all about conscience and not out of fear of consequences because failure to keep them will attract zero consequences.

.

The new wave of Road Infrastructural Recovery is rejuvenating the hopes of the most hopeless residents of Aba that has been abandoned for over three decades. In what looks like a well-planned road infrastructural recovery system, the three-tier system of federalism is visibly seen in the new face of Aba.

.

While the Federal Government is busy tackling the Aba-Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway, Abia State Governor Dr Alex Otti is massively using Julius Berger to perform a true miracle inside the city, the Mayor of Aba South Local Government Area, Uche Wogu is taking road Infrastructure to forgotten communities in his own way.

.

Daily News Nigeria reports that since the road infrastructural recovery started, hope has returned to residents of Aba and the usual street anger seen in the faces of the majority of the residents, drivers and commuters is gradually reducing, as visible signs of a better Enyimba City is seen on people’s faces with less hopelessness.

.

One may wonder, what is the link between the headline with the word Aromatherapy and road infrastructure, well, Aba people will understand better, but before you get it twisted, let us examine something very essential here. Aromatherapy is the practice of using essential oils for therapeutic benefit. It could also be seen as the use of natural plants and essential oils for holistic healing.

.

Serious followers of Governor Otti and Mayor Wogu may argue that their bosses are rather performing serious surgeries on serious illnesses and not just aromatherapy. Well, they should not get it twisted for words a chosen for a reason. Aba is a city that has seen previous administrations perform several surgeries on it without anaesthesia, leaving it in excruciating pain, therefore, Daily News Nigeria chose a better way of linking the ailment with the situation on the ground to create the link.

.

Do not also get it twisted to think that Aba has a huge problem that will take a miracle to solve. Do not let anybody deceive you that anybody who can fix Aba can do anything. These are fallacies that past leaders adopted to keep residents in a state of hopelessness making them think that the problems of Aba are enormous, unsurmountable and will take a miracle to be solved.

.

The only problem with Aba is that it has not experienced sincere leadership since Abia State was carved out from Imo State in 1991. No government outside the Late De Sam Mbakwe had ever created or carved out a new road. All the road routes are already existing. All the past leaders needed to do was to be sincere in leadership to either keep the existing roads intact or improve on the roads they inherited from the Eastern Region and Old Imo State.

.

So, in Aba, the problem that needs the attention of the therapist is the road and with sound governance which could be likened to the natural plant and essential oil for healing, Aba is now under Aromatherapy. The Enyimba City has started inhaling signs of good governance several decades after De Sam Mbakwe, the scent molecules in essential oil are travelling from the city’s olfactory nerves directly to the brain and it is having a serious impact on the city’s amygdala, the emotional centre of the city’s brain and everybody is healing faster than expected.

.

The Essential oils (Good governance) introduced by Governor Alex Otti and Mayor Uche Wogu are getting a lot of buzz recently for helping with everything from Port Harcourt Road, Omuma Road, Cemetery Road, Umuogele Community Road, Abandoned areas of Ndiegoro, Agulanna Road and other places that may have been suffering from road Infrastructure headaches and sore throats caused by decades of abandonment.

.

These essential oils have been absorbed by the skin of Aba residents after a little massage by the therapists in Abia Government House and of course, the one at Aba Town Hall who are daily adding drops of wintergreen to the oil to help residents relax their tight muscles during a rubdown. Who knows, probably they could add lavender to bath salts to create a soothing soak soon.

.

By making traders, Civil Servants and other Nigerians resident in Aba see reasons to be hopeful again that the sleeping giant is gradually awakening, Otti and Wogu have used their style of leadership to treat varieties of conditions, but in general, the Infrastructural Aromatherapy going on in Aba has relieves residents of their pains, improved their mood, and has promoted a sense of relaxation and a better future.

.

While on a city monitoring on Sunday, 21st of January 2024, Daily News Nigeria saw how the Abia State Government is tackling major roads like Port Harcourt Road while the Aba South Government was equally busy grading and opening rural and suburban roads around the Ndiegoro axis.

.

Many residents who spoke to our correspondent said that the synergy between the local government and the state government is what Aba needs to get back to life.

.

“For over 20 years all I know about local government is that it is the government that uses touts to harass us to pay one levy or the other. I’m shocked to see a caterpillar from Aba South Local Government Area entering communities, opening blocked roads and creative ways for easy movement of people and vehicles.

.

“I don’t want to rejoice yet. Maybe I’m dreaming. You need to return here tomorrow to ask me some questions again because how could this be real in Abia? At a point, I don’t even know anything about local government except state,” Ekene Ude, a resident of the Umuogele community said.

.

Mr Aloysius Egwu, another resident of Umuogele said, “I’m happy that things are gradually improving. My house is just an ordinary ten-minute drive into the main city centre, but I struggle every day beyond fifty minutes and one hour most times to come out.

.

“So, seeing such signs, I don’t regret buying land here anymore because over the years my wife has been blaming me for not listening to her for us to remain in the city centre because both her business and mine as suffering as a result of the nature of these small community roads here.”

.

It would be wrong to conclusively say that the past leaders of Abia State did not do anything in Aba, but it will amount to an undiluted truth to say that their efforts were not enough. Their means to the end was not clearer to anyone and their end never justified their means.

.

Today, the current leadership has a means, whether it will justify the end, time will tell. However, it is on record that as far as Aba, the Enyimba City is concerned and as far as road Infrastructure in the city is concerned, it has been so far, so good eight months.

.

OHIZU is a Daily News Nigeria  Special Correspondent based in Umuahia, Abia State