Otti installs street lights on 45km road to be commissioned by Obasanjo

For more security and aesthetics, the 45-kilometer Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Akara-Alayi-Abiriba road in Abia State is being fitted with solar-powered street lights ahead of its scheduled formal commissioning on April 2, 2025, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

This road adds to about 43 others that the state governor, Dr. Alex Otti’s administration, has either reconstructed across the three senatorial zones of the state through contracts or direct labor since he assumed office on May 29, 2023.

On Tuesday, March 25, 2025, the governor also formally flagged off the construction of two critical roads on the outskirts of Umuahia, the state capital, which the State Information Commissioner, Prince Okey Kanu, said had long been in a deplorable state.

He stated that the two roads, which he named as the 4.32-kilometer Orpet-Umuafai Ahieke-Lodu road and the 3.79-kilometer Ahieke-Okwuta-Bende road, “will be constructed to modern standards to ensure smoother transportation, enhanced economic activities, and improved connectivity for residents and businesses in the state capital.”

The commissioner, speaking on the fallouts of this week’s State Executive Council (SEC) meeting, announced that the state government, in partnership with the *Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation*, will launch the *Sound Intervention Hearing Mission 2025*, aimed at providing about 1,000 hearing aids to Abia residents with hearing impairments.

He said that this program, scheduled for April 2 in Umuahia, “is to be part of a broader initiative to enhance access to healthcare and improve the quality of life for vulnerable groups in the state.”

He also mentioned that the program will, in addition, feature the formal launch by Governor Otti of the state’s formal sector Health Insurance Scheme (HIS).

According to him, the HIS would mark a new era of proactive healthcare management in Abia and is a testament to Governor Otti’s commitment to inclusive governance.

State Health Commissioner, Professor Enoch Uche, said that as part of these healthcare-focused activities, his ministry will also hold a medical outreach on April 2. He indicated that after the event in Umuahia, the outreach will move to Aba for a series of intensive medical interventions targeted at underserved populations.

Meanwhile, in the government’s sustained bid to enhance hygiene and public health, the State Executive Council (SEC) approved the return of sanitary inspectors across the state. Commissioner Kanu said this decision was informed by the government’s Clean Abia Initiative, which has led to notable improvements in the sanitation conditions of major cities like Aba and Umuahia.

He said, “Abia streets, particularly those of Aba and Umuahia, which were previously regarded among the dirtiest in the country, have been transformed.”