The capital city of any state is its pride. It has to be. It serves as the greatest advertisement of a government’s achievements. This is so because when the seat of power is decrepit, being among the first places to be seen by everyone, including investors, confidence to do business with the government of such a state diminishes. Awka, the capital city of Anambra State, today looks decrepit with worsening roads which mock the status of the city.
Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, had indeed started well in Awka by doing a few inner roads to the delight of all. It was seen as a precursor of what would come and not a few felt that what was as the curse stalling Awka’s development was about to be broken. Five years into Soludo’s tenure, those early promises of progress now increasingly look like a mere window display.
To worsen matters, some roads were scrapped in those early days with a view to reconstructing them but many years after, they are still abandoned and have become worse and near impassable, depending on the area. Driving around such parts of the capital city is thus increasingly becoming a harrowing experience.
Some of the roads needing urgent attention by the Soludo Government include: Igwebuike Road, SM Okeke Road, Works Road, Obunagu Road, Ichide Road, Nodu Market Road down to Goodwill Junction, Umuorama Road, Amaku Road, Amaenyi Girls’ Road, Ifite Road, Umuike Road from Nkwelle Awka, among others. Even the road leading to the Workers’ Secretariat, otherwise called Jerome Udoji Secretariat, has remained in poor condition.
So also are roads outside Awka that include Obi Avenue, Amawbia, Ezimezi Ama Hausa Road and others which still fall into the capital territory.
Given the sheer number of these and other roads mentioned, one wonders what the Soludo Government has been focusing on.
There is also the menacing problem of blocked drainage that trigger flashfloods. Whenever it rains, Zik Avenue in Awka gets flooded, triggering traffic jams and threatening life and property.
It was expected that five years into the regime of the present government most of the roads in the capital city would have been constructed or reconstructed but that has not been the case and it is more disappointing that there are no immediate signs of action being taken by the State Government.
We are therefore constrained to ask the Anambra State Government of Prof Chukwuma Soludo whether roads in the capital city and environs have been abandoned. The state cannot look like Dubai-Taiwan promised by Soludo if the capital city is not revamped. We are very worried that the capital city of Awka has remained largely what is called a glorified village.
It is not in good taste to think that the best road in Awka is the one leading to the new Government House, christened Light House, which is replete with street lights. What is good for Soludo is also good for the masses.
Such a beautiful road should be replicated in other parts of the Awka capital city, also with street lights which seem to have disappeared with the immediate past government of Chief Willie Obiano. It is saddening indeed that all the street lights of that era have all stopped working, with the current government not looking in a hurry to repair them or build newer models.
Awka must be made to look like a modern capital city and given its small size, that should not pose too much of a problem. As the seat of power in Anambra State, Awka certainly deserves more.
