AfDB, Islamic Bank, CACF to Back Abia’s Infrastructure Development Drive

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Abia State has secured the support of international financial institutions to expand road infrastructure development and tackle the menace of gully erosion that has continued to wreck havoc in communities.

For a vehicle to drive this initiative, Governor Alex Otti has launched the Abia State Integrated Infrastructure Development (ABSIID) project, saying that African Development Bank(AfDB), Islamic Development Bank(IsDB), and the Canada-Africa Development Bank Climate Fund (CACF) would assist in funding the project. 

He said that Abia entered into “very favourable terms of agreement” with the international financial institutions and  assured that every fund that the State would receive for the project would be judiciously used.

Otti acknowledged that ABSIID is not an entirely new initiative, saying that “in truth, the conception of this initiative preceded the coming of our administration”, only that “it took our coming on board to materialise”.

He stated that the actualisation of the ABSIID project “speaks to the growing confidence of multilateral partners in the development trajectory of the state under our leadership”.

“This government did not just take steps to actualise the ABSIID initiative; we worked tirelessly with the partners to broaden the scope from a narrow focus on urban roads when it was first conceived over a decade ago,” he said.

According to him, ABSIID has now been broadened “to a robust public sector vehicle for holistic development along critical frontiers covering road rehabilitation, erosion mitigation, and waste management”.

Otti expressed confidence that Abia would enjoy bountiful benefits in the expanded scope of ABSIID.

He said: “Beyond just improving the stock of road infrastructure to connect communities, farms to markets and dreams to ventures, we are optimistic that ABSIID will fast-track the pace of job creation in agriculture, transportation and light manufacturing”.

The Finance Minister, who was represented by Dr. Oyadele Akonde, said that ABSIID  represents a significant growth in the collective efforts to drive economic growth, improve infrastructure and finance the quality of life for Abia State’s citizens.
Abia Commissioner for Works, Engr. Otumchere Oti, had earlier in his address highlighted the importance of good road network which ABSIID has come to provide.

In their goodwill messages, Director General of African Development Bank, Dr. Abdul Kalam (AfDB), and the representative of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), affirmed their commitments to the project.