Skits of Shame: The Negative Impact of Abia State Government-Sponsored Adverts and Skits on Abians | #NwokeukwuMascot

 Opinion 

The Abia State Government has taken a regrettable route in its attempt to showcase achievements by sponsoring adverts and skits that ridicule its people and past administrations.

Unfortunately, this strategy of communicating comparative analysis of Government achievements is negatively affecting the Psyche and self esteem of an average Abian.

Recently, there has been a growing wave of Igbophobia in the South-West and other parts of Nigeria, with many believing that the Igbos and indeed the South-East still live in the stone age hence they find it difficult staying in South East . Unfortunately, this narrative has been reinforced by the very content and skits produced to highlight government achievements, which instead project a backward and disgusting image of the past and even the present. This was confirmed by some members of the NBA during their annual conference in Enugu. They openly admitted that their perception of the South-East was entirely different from the reality they encountered, confessing they never knew the region was that developed.

In Abia, Governor Alex Otti and his media handlers have gone to the extreme, using content creators to recreate a primitive image of Abia State in the minds of Nigerians, simply to exaggerate government achievements. This approach has negatively affected the self-esteem of many Abians among their colleagues across the country.

For instance, the government recently paid a content creator to celebrate the installation of traffic lights in Umuahia. But is a traffic light something new in Abia State? Another content creator was sponsored to celebrate waste compactor trucks. Are we being told that before Otti’s administration, Abians carried waste on their heads? Similarly, a skit was produced to hail the installation of solar lights an act that only reinforces a primitive and backward image of Abia including celebration of water fountain, rather than portraying progress.

The Abia State Government can certainly communicate what it considers its achievements without ridiculing and demeaning the very state it seeks to promote.

Just last week, we saw the so-called completion of a bridge the "Omenuko Bridge" being hyped as a major achievement by Otti’s aides. While we appreciate the timely completion of this project, which holds deep memories for our people, especially those who lost loved ones on that road. It is important to note that this is not the first time Abia State has built bridges that connect communities.

The last administration, even with far lower allocations, constructed the Okobo Bridge, the Nneato Bridge, the Ndi Oji Ndi Okereke Bridge, and the Akun Aku Bridge, among others. Past administrations have also delivered several bridges. So why would a government ridicule its own people by pretending this is the first time Abia has seen a bridge?

It is also instructive to note that credit for the Omenuko Bridge should largely go to the APC-led Federal Government, which not only introduced institutional reforms that grew Abia’s monthly  revenue from ₦6 billion to ₦38 billion but also approved the state’s takeover of the bridge from the initial contractor appointed by Federal Government, while allowing for reimbursement requests from the State . This seamless handover of federal projects to states was made possible by the broad-mindedness of Mr. President, who graciously approved such requests. In the past, states were barred from working on federal roads, even when funds were available.

At present, there are six other federal roads under construction or reconstruction across Abia, including:

1.) Umuahia–Arochukwu (via Abiriba and Ohafia)

2.) Onuimo–Umuahia

3.) Owerrinta–Umuikaa

4.) Port Harcourt Road, Aba

5.) Osisioma–Ekeakpara Road

6.) Ohafia old soldier to Arochukwu. 

No matter the negative picture Governor Alex Otti seeks to paint about Abia State prior to his administration, the truth remains: Abia was never a desert and cannot be described in such degrading terms just to score cheap political points.

No government can complete all the infrastructural development of a state or a country . Government is continuum, let's stop demarkeing Abia state as we are amongs the best both in development and human capital.

©️Ekwedike