Abia Workers Score Orji Low On Housing

Workers in Abia have expressed disappointment over the state government’s inability to deliver affordable houses to civil servants in the state.

Our correspondent reports that the current administration of  Theodore Orji has not initiated any housing policy for low income workers.

The workers said that the Amokwe Housing Estate was initiated by the state government for the elite.

They also claimed that the Ehimiri Housing Estate and a 16-unit semi-detachable complex at Amuba Housing Estate, which were meant for low income civil servants, were designed by the former administrations.

The Ehimiri Housing Estate had been hijacked by the elite and rented out to other residents.

The Amuba Housing Estate, which was initiated by former governor Orji Uzor Kalu, comprised legislators quarters and 16-unit structures. Kalu, according to the workers, completed the 16-unit structure at the Ehimiri Housing Estate which was initiated by the military.

The workers bared their minds on the challenges of accommodation in the capital city on condition of anonymity. They expressed regret over the seeming lack of focus by the current administration, stressing that no sector of the state’s economy had grown in the last five years.

One of the sources, a staff of Umuahia South Local Government area, said the workers had not had it so bad because of absence of housing policy in the state.

They said government’s policy on housing was only for the elite and not for the civil servants. “Kalu initiated 1000 housing units for low income workers and was able to deliver 16-unit project at Amuba and Ubakala.

“Until now, the Amuba Housing Estate has remained inaccessible because government has failed to provide infrastructure in the estate,” they said.

The workers alleged that the 16-unit Amuba housing project comprising one bed-room flats were allocated to the beneficiaries at the cost of  N1.8 million.

“The Amuba Housing Estate has become a den of thieves as armed robbers take off from there to terrorise the people. “One then wonders the essence of government when it cannot provide the basic needs of its people,” the source said. The workers said that deductions from their monthly salaries by the government for housing were not justifiable.

In his reaction, the Abia State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Don Ubani, said government had conceptualised many housing estates in the state. According to him, the Amaokwe Housing Estate in Umuahia and the Amuba Housing Estate at Ubakala are meant for low income earners.

“The most important thing is to conceptualise an idea and other things will follow. Infrastructure in the Amuba Housing Estate will certainly come up with time,” Ubani said.