MRS. NKECHI IKPEAZU MAKES CASE FOR ABIA ON GREENER AND HABITABLE CITIES.

#AbiaOnline
Pondering over the events that prognosticated couple of days ago in Abia, I can not help but appreciate the ingenuity and commitment of the Abia “Première Dame” to positioning Abia State on the speedy lane of development.
The need for African nations and third-world countries to re-fashion her politics and policies to leap for better, green, healthy and habitable cities is long overdue. This is predicated on the urgent need to improve on aesthetics of the cities and join the league of nations in the world, with clean, green and modern infrastructure cities. As such, it has multiplier benefits ranging from longevity of the inhabitants, boosting tourism, investment and, consequently, continual increase in IGR, and job creation.
Glaringly, some African nations have worn the gauntlet and waken up from slumber. For instance, the United Nations’ recent appraisal that Kigali, the capital of Rwanda was the greenest city in Africa and third in the world is, inarguably, is a-worth celebrating feat.
In Nigeria, there had been efforts to reinvent our cities to match with that of the western world, but the results had been, rather, minimal.
Resounding efforts were made during the tenure of Malam Nasir El-Rufai as the then FCT minister, who demolished many buildings in Abuja in order to restore the city to its original master plan.
The economic capital of Nigeria, Lagos, has also performed considerably well in demolishing slums, in order to enthrone a beautiful habitable and industrialized city.
Down to Abia State, the present administration noticed a wide infrastructural gap, with the attendant debilitating gruesome living conditions of Abians, both in the urban, semi-urban and rural areas, hence the administration of Dr. Ikpeazu has worn its working sleeves to give the State a fresh breath of life. This is the motive behind the massive ongoing road constructions, flyover and bridges being championed by the developments driven Governor Ikpeazu’s administration, targeted to give birth to habitable, green world-class cities with functional infrastructures.
This aspiration of the this present government has been emboldened by the appointment of Dr. Solomon Ogunji, as Special Adviser to the Governor on Aba Urban Renewal, who has recorded significant progress, been an authority in the field.
The yearn to meaningfully transform Abia cities recently got a boost through the Wife of the Governor, Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu, during the plenary session of the metropolitan Thinkers Campus of the world Urban Campaign held in Umuahia, where she enjoined the Urban Thinkers Campus to come up with the best ideas and complementary actions that will leapfrog to attaining beautiful, habitable cities with affordable and quantitative housing, coupled with functional sanitation infrastructures, security and emergency services.
Mrs. Ikpeazu was exceptionally elated that the plenary kick-started in Abia, noting that the event heralded the fulfillment of the vision shared by her and her husband in conjunction with Vicar Hope Foundation as well and other governmental agencies and individuals.
Mrs.Ikpeazu extolled the Governor and Hajia Dr. Limota Giwa whose platform brought about the venture and friends from the United Nations Habitat for seeing potentials in Abia and the opportunity to host session in the State.
Instructively, this is a positive dimension for God’s Own State; being that, well planned, green and infrastructurally up-to-date cities are major hallmarks and highly used parameters for rating developed nations globally, hence, the ongoing clamour and energy being directed towards the noble goal of resurging our cities is welcomed and right-stepped.
UNU
28/09/2017