ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Obinna Ichita, a member representing Aba South state constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, has treated as false the proposed Enyimba Economic City (ECC) by the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu-led administration.
The lawmaker described the said ECC as “a scam”, claiming that enormous resources were spent to promote the proposed project, yet it had remained a tall dream.
EEC is a proposed free-trade zone with independent business registry, banking regulations, labour laws, etc, located on over 9,500 hectares of land in the oil-rich Ukwa communities between Aba and Port Harcourt.
He regretted that the project was yet to commence over seven years it was proposed, and less than eight months to the end of Ikpeazu’s eight-year tenure, according to Ikengaonline.
In 2018, the Governor secured the go-ahead of the African Development Bank (AFDB), private investors and other multilateral financial institutions for the investment of a whopping $430 million to fast-track the development of ECC.
Expressing disappointment over the failure of the State Government to deliver on the project, Ichita said Abia was unfortunate to be governed by people who lack the competence to drive big visions.
The lawmaker also, noted that although the idea of the project was commendable, the administration lacked the sincerity and competent hands to drive the vision.
He said: “Enyimba Economic City is a scam although the idea was a very smart one. But when smart people conceptualize ideas and hand it over to people who do not understand what it takes to drive the idea, they will mess it up.
“Over $1 billion dollars was spent just to get the stamp of a certain organisation in Dubai on board.
“I stand to be controverted with facts; Enyimba Economic City is a scam just like the Education City and the Medical Village are all scams floated to confuse the people.
“The other time when this Government said it was awarding interventionists projects across constituencies I said that I knew this Government; it cannot be trusted but some people doubted me. But today where are those projects?”
On who conceptualized the EEC project, Ichita said: “I don’t want to mention names but I know for sure that the person is not part of the Government in the state.
“I know the person who conceptualized the idea; I know the person that secured the buying-in. But what happens is that the State Government does not have the intellectual sophistication to drive the idea.
“If you understand anything about urbanisation you will agree that EEC was a nice idea to decongest Aba and link it up with Port Harcourt. As a matter of fact, Umuahia would have also been connected to Aba but unfortunately the Government does not understand urbanisation strategy.”
The deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in the 2023 poll said the project has not been realized because: “the same thing that made them to abandon the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH.
“The same thing that made Abia Polytechnic to lose its accreditation; the same thing that made them to abandon Faulks Road, a road of less than five kilometers.
“They said they have spent over N8 billion. So, mathematically, it means one killometer length of road on a dry land costs over N1 billion. This can only happen in Abia!”
But in a swift reaction, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Eze Chikamnayo, criticized the lawmaker for calling the project “a scam”.
He also cautioned him against criticizing the administration of Governor Ikpeazu.
According to the Commissioner, the project had attained 50 per cent completion although the construction of structures had not yet begun.
Citing the Second Niger Bridge project which was conceptualized by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan but delivered by the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, Chikamnayo said that Government is a continuum.
He said: “Ichita himself is a scam. He is misguided and ignorant of the workings of Government and needs to be enrolled in an extra-mural class where he will be taught development dynamics free of charge.
“When former President Jonathan started the Master plan of 2nd Niger Bridge and laid the solid foundation, did all the leg work for the multinational financiers to buy into the project but unfortunately he was not in office when some of those things came into fruition. Does that mean Jonathan was a scam or the 2nd Niger Bridge a scam?”
He claimed that Governor Ikpeazu had done the major works needed for EEC to come on stream, saying that Ikpeazu’s successor will only need little efforts to realize the project.
“A multinational project like EEC requires a buy-in by private and corporate investors and can’t be achieved overnight. We have done over 50 per cent in the EEC project. The substructure of such multinational project is not the buildings and the roads you see; it’s the paper works, the agreements and negotiations.
“For instance, Geometric Power has been in the offing for more than 15 years now but we are about reaping the gains. EEC is 50 per cent done.
“All of the land needed, all of the lobby, all of the funding, we are putting all of those in process. Putting these things together is more tasking and time-consuming than the physical structure.
Asked if seven years was not enough for something substantial to have been put on ground at the site of the project,
Chikamnayo added: “It is expected that the incoming administration will deliver on the project.
“This is why we are rooting for Professor Uche Ikonne to take over from Ikpeazu so he can continue” he stated, adding that “Abians must reject erratic elements who have no understanding of the dynamics of Government.”