NEWS
Era of focus on grassroots devp
IT IS exhilarating to observe that Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s one year in office has registered appreciable impact in the rural economy which has led to the gradual transformation of the living standard of the people living and earning their livelihood in the rural areas.
Rural development as an integral part of state and local government administration has been proved to be a dynamic process given the fact that majority of the populace reside in the hinterlands and carry on with their productive ventures.
It is apposite to assert that rural development is the bedrock of urban economy in view of the fact that raw materials and agricultural products are sourced from the hinterlands to feed the industries and manufacturing ventures in the urban centres. Having this in mind, the governor has prioritised road rehabilitation interventions that traverse the rural areas which is one of the basic needs in addition to sundry amenities and facilities that will transform the rural economy and incentivise the rural dwellers to establish viable productive ventures to stem the tide of rural-urban migration in search of non-existing white collar jobs. It is good that the governor recognised the fact that road rehabilitation cutting across rural communities will enhance the phenomenal growth of (GDP) of the state.
Nigeria has been named the gross domestic product poverty capital of the world and the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics declared that over 133 million Nigerians are multi dimensionally poor. And to add, majority of the poor are residing in the rural areas where basic amenities and services are scant. There is no gainsaying the fact that road is unarguably, the foremost basic need of the people in the rural areas. Lack of other equally vital amenities can be tolerated but road is tied to survival and life sustenance in the rural areas.
Some of the roads that traverse the rural communities include: Amansea to Oba-Ofemmili road with a spur at Ayamelu local government. These two rural areas are reputed to be cultivating abundance of rice all the year round with water resources for irrigation. Other food crops are equally produced in abundance in these areas.
The Amansea, Forest Reserve, Ufuma, Awa Road cuts across many rural communities reputable for agricultural produce. The significance of the rehabilitation of this road lies in the likely attraction of agro allied industrialists to establish cottage and agro allied ventures and animal husbandry to create employment, create wealth and alleviate unemployment.
Another road rehabilitation project traverses Awka to Isuaniocha and likely to be extended down to Achala, the local government headquarters, to open up the rural areas to enable the hard working farmers evacuate their farm produce and earn substantial income to alleviate their grinding poverty and penury. In fact, the governor has really recognised rural development as integral part of state governance; hence his package of policies, programmes and projects interventions aimed at fostering sustainable socio-economic growth and development in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Programmes (SDPs) ostensibly to alleviate poverty, provide adequate healthcare, habitable environment and food security.
Other road rehabilitation that traverse rural areas include: Ogbaru, Ezira, Ogboji and adjoining communities, Aguluezechukwu, AchinaAjali road, to mention but a few. Soludo has indicated moves to get the federal government to rehabilitate the road from Anambra East to Kogi, which cuts across many rural communities, even as it shortens the distance from Abuja.
