Gov Mbah To Compensate Traders Two Years After Shop Demolition
Gov Peter Mbah of Enugu State, weekend, promised to compensate Ogige Market traders whose shops were demolished about two years ago. The shops were demolished to make way for the Nsukka ultra-modern bus terminal, which has since become operational.
According to Mbah, the compensation was to stabilise the businesses of the affected traders. He said the demolition was to remodel the market.
In his words, “I was misunderstood when we went on to remodel Ogige Market. What was going through my mind was imagine what it would have looked like if we had transformed Ogbete Main Market with two modern terminals, the inter-state and intra-state, and we did nothing about Ogige Market or Nsukka! How would that have been interpreted? The people are the centrepiece of everything we do. It is not about self-aggrandisement, posturing or politics, but about the people. We saw Ogige Market as a keg of gunpowder. If we didn’t do anything, and we had an emergency in that market, you would have been asked if you had a government in the state.”
He said his administration had concluded plans to resettle the traders that were affected. “Some people might have been affected, but we have plans and programmes. We have just started doing some shops there to bring back those people that were affected. We are also going to give those directly affected some seed money to start their trade. The intervention was with the best intentions to prevent avoidable tragedies.”
He said his administration is all-inclusive, and “not interested in isolated development”. He described Enugu State as standing on “three stones, and we believe that every leg of the stone must be balanced”.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Gov Mbah used the rally to inaugurate the construction of the 52.2km Nguru-Lejja- Aku-Akpakume Nze-Egede-Affa-Eke road. He pledged to transform the zone into an economic engine.
The people of the zone, comprising seven local government areas out of the 17 in the state, used the rally to endorse Gov Mbah and President Bola Tinubu for a second term in office.
The motion was moved by the House member representing Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency, Hon Dennis Agbo, and seconded by Hon Mark Obetta (Nsukka/Igboeze South Federal Constituency).
Hon Agbo listed the resumed funding and ongoing construction of the Oturkpo-Obollo Afor-9th Mile Enugu Expressway, Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway, expedited work on the Enugu-Onitsha Federal Expressway, the successful concession of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, the creation of the South East Development Commission, and the recent promise to accelerate work on the Port Harcourt -Enugu rail line as part of the grounds for Tinubu’s endorsement.
He added that Tinubu had addressed the decades of marginalisation and exclusion suffered by the South East by appointing several sons of Enugu State and Nsukka into prominent positions Ndigbo were hitherto excluded from.
Advertisement
Quoting him, “Our brother, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, is the current Chief of the Air Staff. Major General Ifeanvi Okoro is the current Military Secretary (Army). Major General Valentine Okoro is the current Head of Training (Army). Admiral Ikechukwu Ogalla (Rtd) is the immediate past Chief of the Naval Staff, while Mr Frank Mbah just retired as Deputy Inspector General of Police.”
The Deputy Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon Ezenta Ezeani, said Gov Mbah deserved the endorsement, having carried the zone along.
According to him, “Mbah has demonstrated uncommon leadership, improved security architecture, and massive infrastructural transformation across urban and rural communities.”
He listed some of the critical infrastructure of Mbah to include the ongoing dualisation of the Enugu-Opi Nsukka Road, upgrade of the State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS) at Igbo-Eno, 102 of the 260 Smart Green Schools, and 102 of the 260 Type 2 Primary Healthcare Centres.
“These are not promises. These are visible, measurable realities. Leadership is not judged just by intentions, but by outcomes. And when a leader delivers, continuity becomes not just desirable, but necessary. Interrupting it now would be like abandoning a harvest halfway through the season,” he stated.