FG, AfDB Push for Take-off of $263m Projects in Abia

Boniface Okoro in Umuahia 

The Federal Government and African Development Bank (AfDB) are urging the Abia State government to remove all bureaucratic bottlenecks delaying the commencement of the multi-million dollars Abia State Integrated Infrastructural Development (ABSIID) projects.

A delegation of both the Federal Government and AfDB, which visited the state to parley with Governor Alex Otti over the issue, said that two out of the five-year implementation period have already been lost due to the delay.

The ABSIID project was formally launched by Governor Otti on Friday, July 11, 2025, at the JAAC Building in Umuahia but its implementation has been bogged down by bureaucracy.

The project’s total capital outlay is $263.80. The initiative is designed to be executed with loans from AfDB ($100 million); Islamic Development Bank ($125 million -already released) and Canada -Africa Development Bank ($15 million), while state will commit a counterpart fund of $23.80 million (about N2 billion), which it has since paid.

The project aims to rehabilitate over 248 kilometres of roads, manage waste and tackle erosion. About 126 kilometres of the roads would be constructed in Aba and 35.57 kilometres built in Umuahia.

The leader of the delegation and representative of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Mrs Oyebola Akande, while  commending Governor Otti for the timely release of Abia’s N2 billion counterpart funding for the project, said that their mission was to see how they (Federal Government and AfDB) could team up with the Abia State government and their financing partners to accelerate the implementation of the project without further delay.

“Our mission here today is to see how we can accelerate this project. The state has a role to play, the Federal Government has a role to play, while the bank also has a role to play,” Mrs Akande said.

She stressed the need for the Abia team to fast-track the process, having lost two years of the five-year implementation timeframe for the project and appealed for the governor’s intervention to reduce the bureaucratic bottlenecks in the state’s Ministry of Finance impeding the acceleration of the project.

Also, the representative of AfDB, Sheila Akyza, stressed that the parties’ overall interest was to work with the state government to ensure facilitation and implementation of the projects as soon as possible, for the benefit of the people of the state.

Akyza described the project as one of the best projects attracted by Governor Otti for the state.

Receiving the delegation, Governor Otti promised to swiftly resolve all issues impeding the commencement of the ABSIID projects.

The governor blamed the delay on communication gap, explaining that he was not being properly updated. He therefore directed his Chief of Staff, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, to join the team and avail him of their report weekly.

“Clearly, I have not been getting the right messages and the right situational report. I have been asking, and then all the report I got was that the problem is with ABSIID, the Federal Ministry, the bank,” the governor said.

He exonerated the state Ministry of Finance, saying with the payment of the counterpart fund, it had no role to play again.

“Everything that needs to be done from our side, should be done, it’s not finance. Finance (Ministry) doesn’t have anything to do with it at this stage. That’s why they are not in this meeting,” he said. 

Otti differed with the delegation on their mid-year proposal for the ABSIID projects flag-off, but fixed it for next month. 

“And you are talking of flag-off in the middle of the year, no. Whatever it takes, we must flag-off in April.

“It’s not in our best interest that we are not making progress. So, I can assure you that from now on, you will see progress.

“So, I’m going to sit with them (ABSIID officials), and we are going to resolve all these issues. They are non-issues, we can deal with them. We want to start, latest by April,” he said.

The Chief of Staff to the Governor and the Commissioner for Works, Mr. Otumchere Oti, were present at the meeting.