Cjrane2:


The big problem with Anambra today is that it has attracted all the jobless people and low-end individuals from all over the southeast and indeed Nigeria to come and hustle by setting up illegal shacks all over the state. The sad aspect is that these people also refuse to pay taxes to help the state grow its IGR. Meanwhile, the high-end individuals continue to leave the state either due to every Monday sit at home or the increasing practicality of living in Asaba while working in the state.

Generally, we know there are state capital cities created in 1967, 1976, 1987, 1991, and 1996! The earlier cities created as state capitals are generally more developed than the younger state capitals. Soludo's attention to Anambra cities is commendable. But, it does not take away the fact that subsequent regimes totally abandoned Anambra cities to the dogs. Even the youngest state capital cities in Nigeria such as Yenagoa, Gombe, Abakaliki etc that were created on October 1, 1996, have since surpassed some that were created 5 years earlier on August 21, 1991! Hopefully, Soludo will continue his urban renewal to get the Anambra capital city and other key cities to what they should be.

Oburo onye kwo, motor ya efuo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1rIsPi9h6I


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM-c1l_c0w0&t=734s

I feel you may have unknowingly touched on one critical factor that dogs all Anambra state governments.......... Revenue Generation! It is all well to criticise administrations endlessly but how does Anambra state generate enuff revenue to finance all the urban renewal projects we dream about! let me apologise ahead of time but once again I am forced to berate soludo for nearly squandering all his political goodwill by dipping his feet into the unnecessary IPOB/sit at home melodrama ! He has begin to retrace his footsteps.............................Rule #1 always stand with your people PUBLICALLY !!! Soludo must learn to flatter their dreams and aspirations like your life depends on it!

Now this brings me to the topic of revenue generation, i am always amazed that a corterie of little educated Igbo traders are able to navigate stringent,corrupt and biased town planning laws in other states like Lagos,come together,concieve,TAX,construct and commission massive trading complexes yet so called egg heads and intellectuals and elite with trappings of political and administrative powers are unable to finance project that are impactful on the general population!

As a child and an adult growing up in Lagos island within a trading family, I witnessed first hand the conception and construction of Alaba in the 1970s and Aspamda in the late 1990s...................If Soludo is desirous of making any progress with stiff necked republicans like Ndigbo he has to cultivate their TRUST and learn the 3 Cs..........COMMUNICATE, CONSULT and COLLABORATE! If he wants to generate money from ndi anambra he had better get off his high horse and start to visit every autonomous community..HOME and ABROAD...........Peter Obi was quite good at this kind of strategy............can you imagine the kind of revenue he can generate from property tax from mansions in our various villages but We go Discuss am! That one is a must!

ebufa:




I feel you may have unknowingly touched on one critical factor that dogs all Anambra state governments.......... Revenue Generation! It is all well to criticise administrations endlessly but how does Anambra state generate enuff revenue to finance all the urban renewal projects we dream about! let me apologise ahead of time but once again I am forced to berate soludo for nearly squandering all his political goodwill by dipping his feet into the unnecessary IPOB/sit at home melodrama ! He has begin to retrace his footsteps.............................Rule #1 always stand with your people PUBLICALLY !!! Soludo must learn to flatter their dreams and aspirations like your life depends on it!

Now this brings me to the topic of revenue generation, i am always amazed that a corterie of little educated Igbo traders are able to navigate stringent,corrupt and biased town planning laws in other states like Lagos,come together,concieve,TAX,construct and commission massive trading complexes yet so called egg heads and intellectuals and elite with trappings of political and administrative powers are unable to finance project that are impactful on the general population!

As a child and an adult growing up in Lagos island within a trading family, I witnessed first hand the conception and construction of Alaba in the 1970s and Aspamda in the late 1990s...................If Soludo is desirous of making any progress with stiff necked republicans like Ndigbo he has to cultivate their TRUST and learn the 3 Cs..........COMMUNICATE, CONSULT and COLLABORATE! If he wants to generate money from ndi anambra he had better get off his high horse and start to visit every autonomous community..HOME and ABROAD...........Peter Obi was quite good at this kind of strategy............can you imagine the kind of revenue he can generate from property tax from mansions in our various villages but We go Discuss am! That one is a must!

Government has enough allocation to do the basics. Anambra is just 4,000sq km. Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi are less than 100 sq km in total. If you actually build 100 km of road in each city that will cost 100 billion or less. No state governor has dedicated just 10 billion a year in roads to the three cities each. Obiano built just the flyovers in Awka and one or two urban roads and that was it.

If you organise proper large bus services and routing and get rid of the chaos of kekes in dense urban areas that will cost you around 50 billion. You will decongest roads, make fares affordable and increase sanity and accessibility.

If you relocate markets out of major roads and enforce requirement of parking, water supply, toilets, security then you set a standard and people will not flood the state and see it as a place you can sell anyhow and anywhere without control.

abuzz33:


Government has enough allocation to do the basics. Anambra is just 4,000sq km. Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi are less than 100 sq km in total. If you actually build 100 km of road in each city that will cost 100 billion or less. No state governor has dedicated just 10 billion a year in roads to the three cities each. Obiano built just the flyovers in Awka and one or two urban roads and that was it.

If you organise proper large bus services and routing and get rid of the chaos of kekes in dense urban areas that will cost you around 50 billion. You will decongest roads, make fares affordable and increase sanity and accessibility.

If you relocate markets out of major roads and enforce requirement of parking, water supply, toilets, security then you set a standard and people will not flood the state and see it as a place you can sell anyhow and anywhere without control.

Anambra state has an annual budget struggling to reach 200 billion naira , unless Anambra significantly increases its IGR, i do not see how the state can afford the urban renewal projects we so desire! Yet without changing the vibes of our cities we will not be able to attract local home investment talk less of foreign investment! A 100 billion naira urban renewal budget is not basic o! The basics is maintaining the infrastructure on ground, getting a handle on refuse collection and disposal, adequate traffic management , enforcement of basic city and zoning laws......and of course security.

In my humble opinion the first step to any urban renewal is to decongest our major towns..........we tend to over build our so called downtowns! The core of the inter state transport hub,should be relocated from headbridge,upper iweka ,tarzan to the second Niger bridage / obosi interchange axis........there is sufficient land to build a world class, luxury bus,commuter bus,trailer and container park there....but witout sensitizing the stakeholders the plan will be sabotaged!

ebufa:





Anambra state has an annual budget struggling to reach 200 billion naira , unless Anambra significantly increases its IGR, i do not see how the state can afford the urban renewal projects we so desire! Yet without changing the vibes of our cities we will not be able to attract local home investment talk less of foreign investment! A 100 billion naira urban renewal budget is not basic o! The basics is maintaining the infrastructure on ground, getting a handle on refuse collection and disposal, adequate traffic management , enforcement of basic city and zoning laws......and of course security.

In my humble opinion the first step to any urban renewal is to decongest our major towns..........we tend to over build our so called downtowns! The core of the inter state transport hub,should be relocated from headbridge,upper iweka ,tarzan to the second Niger bridage / obosi interchange axis........there is sufficient land to build a world class, luxury bus,commuter bus,trailer and container park there....but witout sensitizing the stakeholders the plan will be sabotaged!

The likes of London and New York City are dense but do not rely on primitive transport and business in their urban core like Indian or Nigerian cities. The technology and organization is the difference between organized countries and backward ones because those countries invest heavily in cities.

Anambra should avoid being a keke, wheelbarrow and roadside shack economy.

ebufa:





Anambra state has an annual budget struggling to reach 200 billion naira , unless Anambra significantly increases its IGR, i do not see how the state can afford the urban renewal projects we so desire! Yet without changing the vibes of our cities we will not be able to attract local home investment talk less of foreign investment! A 100 billion naira urban renewal budget is not basic o! The basics is maintaining the infrastructure on ground, getting a handle on refuse collection and disposal, adequate traffic management , enforcement of basic city and zoning laws......and of course security.

In my humble opinion the first step to any urban renewal is to decongest our major towns..........we tend to over build our so called downtowns! The core of the inter state transport hub,should be relocated from headbridge,upper iweka ,tarzan to the second Niger bridage / obosi interchange axis........there is sufficient land to build a world class, luxury bus,commuter bus,trailer and container park there....but witout sensitizing the stakeholders the plan will be sabotaged!

The likes of London and New York City are dense but do not rely on primitive transport and business in their urban core like Indian or Nigerian cities. The technology and organization is the difference between organized countries and backward ones because those countries invest heavily in cities.

Anambra should realise that people invest in correlation to organisation. Provide a modern environment modern companies will flood the state. China gets 20x the investment of India because they are organized and modern.

abuzz33:


The likes of London and New York City are dense but do not rely on primitive transport and business in their urban core like Indian or Nigerian cities. The technology and organization is the difference between organized countries and backward ones because those countries invest heavily in cities.

Anambra should realise that people invest in correlation to organisation. Provide a modern environment modern companies will flood the state. China gets 20x the investment of India because they are organized and modern.

I agree absolutely, however Anambra has to start from somewhere no matter how small...................The kind of modernization you envisage will be quite invasive......a lot of demolition and relocation of infrastructure ( something we can ill afford now). Let me assure you that whatever infrastructure you put in place will be swarmed and overwhelmed in no time!

I drove all the way from Enugu to Igbuzor.....then all the way to Port harcourt via Ughelli last summer!( a trip I did thrice) ! Nigerian cities are not well run and administered.............Activities and transactions that ought to be done in designated facilities and complexes are carried out right on the roads or walkways. Even those who own stores carry out all their wares unto the road in the name of sampling..........welders,carpenters,funeral homes,block industries all have their showrooms on the roadway and walkways.........it is exponentially worse in Alaigbo! From headbridge in onitsha to the old toll gate ,it is bedlam all the way.....keke,wheelbarrows,container semis,commuter buses all on top of each other!

I remember when Amaechi implemented his policy of frontal fences not being no higher than 6feet and fences had to be see through as well,the whole GRAs outlook changed overnight for the better! We are saying the same thing o but we differ on the ways to get to our target goal! Onitsha metro is built up and hardly any room to expand......bulk of the money for urban renewal should be saved for developing new towns in and around Awka.....................Decongest Onitsha,maintain existing infrastructure,expand where possible and improve municipal services........let the private sector modernise and introduce new services and businesses!

ebufa:




I agree absolutely, however Anambra has to start from somewhere no matter how small...................The kind of modernization you envisage will be quite invasive......a lot of demolition and relocation of infrastructure ( something we can ill afford now). Let me assure you that whatever infrastructure you put in place will be swarmed and overwhelmed in no time!

I drove all the way from Enugu to Igbuzor.....then all the way to Port harcourt via Ughelli last summer!( a trip I did thrice) ! Nigerian cities are not well run and administered.............Activities and transactions that ought to be done in designated facilities and complexes are carried out right on the roads or walkways. Even those who own stores carry out all their wares unto the road in the name of sampling..........welders,carpenters,funeral homes,block industries all have their showrooms on the roadway and walkways.........it is exponentially worse in Alaigbo! From headbridge in onitsha to the old toll gate ,it is bedlam all the way.....keke,wheelbarrows,container semis,commuter buses all on top of each other!

I remember when Amaechi implemented his policy of frontal fences not being no higher than 6feet and fences had to be see through as well,the whole GRAs outlook changed overnight for the better! We are saying the same thing o but we differ on the ways to get to our target goal! Onitsha metro is built up and hardly any room to expand......bulk of the money for urban renewal should be saved for developing new towns in and around Awka.....................Decongest Onitsha,maintain existing infrastructure,expand where possible and improve municipal services........let the private sector modernise and introduce new services and businesses!

@bolded. That is the crux of the matter!

The type of houses in Nigerian cities such as Onitsha are way better than houses in many European capitals. However, because the whole place is unplanned, with lots of bad roads and overflowing trash everywhere, no sane person would like to live in a Nigerian city.

Thus, a total lack of town planning code and appalling bad roads with overflowing trash everywhere is what turned Nigerian cities into slums. If you look at the quality of buildings, you will agree that Nigerian cities have better buildings than many European cities. Only that the European cities have paved streets, without trash all over the place and of course the buildings are better organized.

OreMI22:


@bolded. That is the crux of the matter!

The type of houses in Nigerian cities such as Onitsha are way better than houses in many European capitals. However, because the whole place is unplanned, with lots of bad roads and overflowing trash everywhere, no sane person would like to live in a Nigerian city.

Thus, a total lack of town planning code and appalling bad roads with overflowing trash everywhere is what turned Nigerian cities into slums. If you look at the quality of buildings, you will agree that Nigerian cities have better buildings than many European cities. Only that the European cities have paved streets, without trash all over the place and of course the buildings are better organized.

This is why I feel throwing money at urban renewal projects will be tantamount to pouring water into a basket! without strong institutions to make and enforce town planning laws........no matter the number of dual carriageways you build bedlam and chaos will sooner than later overwhelm your efforts! we can actually get as much as 6 feet of extra road width by taking our drains and gutters underground!

Mktinsight onye isi mgbaka. Now you are moving to London and China. I thought you would have given us a good example in Nigeria of any state that has attracted modern companies more than Anambra except Lagos and maybe Ogun state due to proximity to Lagos. Anambra has remained the most developed state in igboland and has attracted the most investments in igboland be it modern and semi modern investments.

abuzz33:

The likes of London and New York City are dense but do not rely on primitive transport and business in their urban core like Indian or Nigerian cities. The technology and organization is the difference between organized countries and backward ones because those countries invest heavily in cities.
Anambra should realise that people invest in correlation to organisation. Provide a modern environment modern companies will flood the state. China gets 20x the investment of India because they are organized and modern.

Very balanced post. Every Nigerian city is in this same problem. It is a national malaise. Good that Soludo acknowledged this and working towards fixing it

OreMI22:


@bolded. That is the crux of the matter!

The type of houses in Nigerian cities such as Onitsha are way better than houses in many European capitals. However, because the whole place is unplanned, with lots of bad roads and overflowing trash everywhere, no sane person would like to live in a Nigerian city.

Thus, a total lack of town planning code and appalling bad roads with overflowing trash everywhere is what turned Nigerian cities into slums. If you look at the quality of buildings, you will agree that Nigerian cities have better buildings than many European cities. Only that the European cities have paved streets, without trash all over the place and of course the buildings are better organized.

PETER OBI PHOTOS DRAWN @ AWKA BY SOLUDO



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVgv6yS_xoU

OreMI22:


@bolded. That is the crux of the matter!

The type of houses in Nigerian cities such as Onitsha are way better than houses in many European capitals. However, because the whole place is unplanned, with lots of bad roads and overflowing trash everywhere, no sane person would like to live in a Nigerian city.

Thus, a total lack of town planning code and appalling bad roads with overflowing trash everywhere is what turned Nigerian cities into slums. If you look at the quality of buildings, you will agree that Nigerian cities have better buildings than many European cities. Only that the European cities have paved streets, without trash all over the place and of course the buildings are better organized.

There are road codes, building codes, well known ways of doing public transport systems, waste managemement systems, there are guidelines for urban planning. Nigerian officials deliberately choose not to follow or enforce most of these. The consequence of this failure in duty is chaos, filth and congestion.

The second is a failure in investment. Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi have been growing by 10% each and every year since the 1970s. Onitsha core has over 100,000 buildings built in 40 years or roughly 2,500 buildings per year. Awka probably around 500 buildings are built every year. If you assume that the average road contains around 40 buildings and you assume that 30% of this is built on virgin land then there is a requirement for around 15 new roads per year in Onitsha and around 3 roads per year in Awka. NONE of the governors has built 1/10th of this. They will tell you that there is no money yet do the math. The average urban road of less than 1 km costs around 50 million. They cant bring out 750 million for Onitsha and 150 million for Awka roads a year? Who are they fooling? Every year the backlog of unpaved roads becomes bigger and bigger. Onitsha is supposed to have around 5000+ roads. How many are paved? Same with Awka that should have at least 1,000 roads. Less than 5% of each city is paved.

Many small African countries with less money than Anambra have far better cities and the reason is that their government officials at least attempt to follow conventional urban planning and reinvest in those cities. Nigerian government officials showcase their stupidity in doing as little as possible while boasting about themselves.

I witnessed in December Soludo with his 20 vehicle convoy of police siren and what not flying on the express. They got to Unizik junction in awka where buses have taken part of one lane of an expressway to "load", where miscreants have broken the fence separating both sides of the expressway to carry luggages from one side of the other despite there being a footbridge. A sensible governor would have seen all these and sacked the Commissioner for Transport immediately.

The same Soludo visited Eke Awka which makes the capital look like a slum and blocks a key transport artery. Where wheelbarrows have parked in front of the market seizing one lane while ATMA and other "Solution" people pretend to be directing traffic while collecting money from them. He lectured the people on keeping the place clean. How silly can you be? Someone with sense would sack whoever is in charge of ATMA and sack the Commissioner of Markets.

These people are just not serious.

Yet another useless and worthless post from a man who is even older than Soludo. Everything you wrote are all lies. Anambra is the

Mktinsight aka abuzz33, what have you done to fix your miserable life, but you want to advice a professor of economics. You always try so much to claim to know better than even an economist but all your so called useless knowledge starts and ends in nairaland. If you are actually what you claim to be, you wouldn't be sleeping on nairaland, you would have been somewhere impacting knowledge. Anuofia

abuzz33:

There are road codes, building codes, well known ways of doing public transport]systems, waste managemement systems, there are guidelines for urban planning. Nigerian officials deliberately choose not to follow or enforce most of these. The consequence of this failure in duty is chaos, filth and congestion. The second is a failure in investment. Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi have been growing by 10% each and every year since the 1970s. Onitsha core has over 100,000 buildings built in 40 years or roughly 2,500 buildings per year. Awka probably around 500 buildings are built every year. If you assume that the average road contains around 40 buildings there is a requirement for around 50 roads per year in Onitsha and around 10 roads per year in Awka. NONE of the governors has built 1/10th of this. They will tell you that there is no money yet do the math. The average urban road of less than 1 km costs around 30 million. They cant bring out 1.5 billion for Onitsha and 300 million for Awka roads a year? Who are they fooling?Many small African countries with less money than Anambra have far better cities and the reason is that their government officials at least attempt to follow conventional urban planning. Nigerian government officials showcase their stupidity in doing little of value yet living in the dump they have created. For example, I witnessed in December Soludo with his 20 vehicle convoy of police siren and what not flying on the express. They got to Unizik junction in awka where buses have taken part of one lane of an expressway to "load", where miscreants have broken the fence separating both sides of the expressway to carry luggages from one side of the other despite there being a footbridge. A sensible governor would have seen all these and sacked the Commissioner for Transport immediately.The same Soludo visited Eke Awka which makes the capital look like a slum. Where wheelbarrows have parked in front of the market seizing one lane while ATMA and other "Solution" people pretend to be directing traffic while collecting money from them. He lectured the people on keeping the place clean. How silly can you be? Someone with sense would sack whoever is in charge of ATMA and sack the Commissioner of Markets. These people are just not serious.

abuzz33:


There are road codes, building codes, well known ways of doing public transport systems, waste managemement systems, there are guidelines for urban planning. Nigerian officials deliberately choose not to follow or enforce most of these. The consequence of this failure in duty is chaos, filth and congestion.

The second is a failure in investment. Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi have been growing by 10% each and every year since the 1970s. Onitsha core has over 100,000 buildings built in 40 years or roughly 2,500 buildings per year. Awka probably around 500 buildings are built every year. If you assume that the average road contains around 40 buildings and you assume that 30% of this is built on virgin land then there is a requirement for around 15 new roads per year in Onitsha and around 3 roads per year in Awka. NONE of the governors has built 1/10th of this. They will tell you that there is no money yet do the math. The average urban road of less than 1 km costs around 50 million. They cant bring out 750 million for Onitsha and 150 million for Awka roads a year? Who are they fooling? Every year the backlog of unpaved roads becomes bigger and bigger. Onitsha is supposed to have around 5000+ roads. How many are paved? Same with Awka that should have at least 1,000 roads. Less than 5% of each city is paved.

Many small African countries with less money than Anambra have far better cities and the reason is that their government officials at least attempt to follow conventional urban planning and reinvest in those cities. Nigerian government officials showcase their stupidity in doing as little as possible while boasting about themselves.

I witnessed in December Soludo with his 20 vehicle convoy of police siren and what not flying on the express. They got to Unizik junction in awka where buses have taken part of one lane of an expressway to "load", where miscreants have broken the fence separating both sides of the expressway to carry luggages from one side of the other despite there being a footbridge. A sensible governor would have seen all these and sacked the Commissioner for Transport immediately.

The same Soludo visited Eke Awka which makes the capital look like a slum and blocks a key transport artery. Where wheelbarrows have parked in front of the market seizing one lane while ATMA and other "Solution" people pretend to be directing traffic while collecting money from them. He lectured the people on keeping the place clean. How silly can you be? Someone with sense would sack whoever is in charge of ATMA and sack the Commissioner of Markets.

These people are just not serious.

100% truth! too many scoundrels in the corridors of power in Nigeria..........The only thing they are serious about is in padding budgets and inflating contracts..................something will eventually give,that is if its not "giving" already! It is gonna be an interesting 2023!

Update: Old INEC Road Awka. The old asphalt was completely removed before filling and reconstruction began

Born ,raised, schooled in portharcourt ,even resident for more than 30years now
The state is richly blessed with good governors who have the state at heart not all these greedy , selfish politicians we have in the southeast.
Hardly before you see any untarred road in portharcourt metropolitan area with expanding cities of buguma,bonny,oyigbo,eleme etc.
The indigenes are very accommodating and cordial.
The no nonsense approach the present governor has put in place in building serene and livable cities can never be over estimated.
I must commend the Ebonyi state governor for his effort in building a resilient city in his state ,he has done his best despite the meagre resources.
Anambarians always boast of having wealthy personnel but most of their cities look like where they threw nuclear bomb.
Urban slum has become a norm in the state.
Same with Abia .
Meanwhile Owerri and Enugu are the only two cities from the southeast been ranked among the first ten most beautiful capital cities in Nigeria.

*ACTDA Boss Onuko Appeals To Awka Residents To Comply With Contractors To Enable Them Deliver Quality Job*

By Chibuzor Okoye (ABS News)

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) Mr. Ossy Onuko says Governor Chukwuma Soludo has all it takes to take Anambra to the promise land.

Mr. Onuko who made this assertion while inspecting the ongoing road projects in Awka today, said that the governor has indeed proven that Ndi Anambra did not make mistake by electing him.

The on-going road construction visited by Mr. Onuko were Ogbudeze ulonese street, Umudiana street, Ogbudeze street, Ichie road, Umukwa road, J.N Madubo street, Nwanwuba street, Others includes Oby Okoli Avenue, spanning from UNIZIK JUNCTION by Express to Okpuno-Isuanocha bridge, Club road, old inec by Regina Ceali to Nodu okpun, among others.

The ACTDA Boss who euologized the governor appealed to Ndi Awka and other residents of the city to ensure that all the projects are peacefully going on.

According to Mr. Onuko, there are few structures to be removed in order to give the city a befitting aesthetic view and called on all the people that would be affected to cooperate with the contractors to enable them deliver a quality job.

Mr. Onuko commended governor Soludo for a job well done and called on Ndi Awka to collaborate and assist all the contractors handling road projects.

Mr. Onuko showered encomiums on MP Infrastructure Limited handling the inner city roads for their ingenuity in handling the project and appealed to residents of the area to assist the company in all ramifications for them to deliver on the project.

Mr. Onuko urged Ndi Anambra and other residents of the state to vote for the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the forthcoming general elections in order to keep moving the state forward.

I am from mbaise imo state and I have lived in Owerri for 20yrs.

Imo state is a cursed backward useless worthless shithole state.

Imo state has been focusing in Owerri for the last 20yrs but Owerri has remained a glorified village littered with dilapidated roads and filthy environment, this is despite the education and wealth imo indigenes brag about.

Owerri has remained the worst and most backward state capital in southern Nigeria.

Owerri and Aba has continued to be siemese twins as the worst towns in the eastern Nigeria.

Enugu, Onitsha, Awka, Abakaliki, Asaba abd even Umuahia are the best cities in igboland. This is why millions of imo indigenes are living in Onitsha, Enugu and Awka, but you can never find anyone from other Igbo states living in Owerri or anywhere in imo state.

Imo state is a failed state.

Owerri is a total slum littered with dilapidated roads, filth, insecurity, poverty, etc. Watch this recent video of Owerri.

The only way to save Owerri is to completely demolish it and rebuilt it.

marshman293:
Born ,raised, schooled in portharcourt ,even resident for more than 30years now
The state is richly blessed with good governors who have the state at heart not all these greedy , selfish politicians we have in the southeast.
Hardly before you see any untarred road in portharcourt metropolitan area with expanding cities of buguma,bonny,oyigbo,eleme etc.
The indigenes are very accommodating and cordial.
The no nonsense approach the present governor has put in place in building serene and livable cities can never be over estimated.
I must commend the Ebonyi state governor for his effort in building a resilient city in his state ,he has done his best despite the meagre resources.
Anambarians always boast of having wealthy personnel but most of their cities look like where they threw nuclear bomb.
Urban slum has become a norm in the state.
Same with Abia .
are the only two cities from the southeast been ranked among the first ten most beautiful capital cities in Nigeria.

Good development

investnow2013:
*ACTDA Boss Onuko Appeals To Awka Residents To Comply With Contractors To Enable Them Deliver Quality Job*

By Chibuzor Okoye (ABS News)

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) Mr. Ossy Onuko says Governor Chukwuma Soludo has all it takes to take Anambra to the promise land.

Mr. Onuko who made this assertion while inspecting the ongoing road projects in Awka today, said that the governor has indeed proven that Ndi Anambra did not make mistake by electing him.

The on-going road construction visited by Mr. Onuko were Ogbudeze ulonese street, Umudiana street, Ogbudeze street, Ichie road, Umukwa road, J.N Madubo street, Nwanwuba street, Others includes Oby Okoli Avenue, spanning from UNIZIK JUNCTION by Express to Okpuno-Isuanocha bridge, Club road, old inec by Regina Ceali to Nodu okpun, among others.

The ACTDA Boss who euologized the governor appealed to Ndi Awka and other residents of the city to ensure that all the projects are peacefully going on.

According to Mr. Onuko, there are few structures to be removed in order to give the city a befitting aesthetic view and called on all the people that would be affected to cooperate with the contractors to enable them deliver a quality job.

Mr. Onuko commended governor Soludo for a job well done and called on Ndi Awka to collaborate and assist all the contractors handling road projects.

Mr. Onuko showered encomiums on MP Infrastructure Limited handling the inner city roads for their ingenuity in handling the project and appealed to residents of the area to assist the company in all ramifications for them to deliver on the project.

Mr. Onuko urged Ndi Anambra and other residents of the state to vote for the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the forthcoming general elections in order to keep moving the state forward.

Quality projects

AmericanQuarter:
Update: Old INEC Road Awka. The old asphalt was completely removed before filling and reconstruction began

ebufa:




I agree absolutely, however Anambra has to start from somewhere no matter how small...................The kind of modernization you envisage will be quite invasive......a lot of demolition and relocation of infrastructure ( something we can ill afford now). Let me assure you that whatever infrastructure you put in place will be swarmed and overwhelmed in no time!

I drove all the way from Enugu to Igbuzor.....then all the way to Port harcourt via Ughelli last summer!( a trip I did thrice) ! Nigerian cities are not well run and administered.............Activities and transactions that ought to be done in designated facilities and complexes are carried out right on the roads or walkways. Even those who own stores carry out all their wares unto the road in the name of sampling..........welders,carpenters,funeral homes,block industries all have their showrooms on the roadway and walkways.........it is exponentially worse in Alaigbo! From headbridge in onitsha to the old toll gate ,it is bedlam all the way.....keke,wheelbarrows,container semis,commuter buses all on top of each other!

I remember when Amaechi implemented his policy of frontal fences not being no higher than 6feet and fences had to be see through as well,the whole GRAs outlook changed overnight for the better! We are saying the same thing o but we differ on the ways to get to our target goal! Onitsha metro is built up and hardly any room to expand......bulk of the money for urban renewal should be saved for developing new towns in and around Awka.....................Decongest Onitsha,maintain existing infrastructure,expand where possible and improve municipal services........let the private sector modernise and introduce new services and businesses!

I would disgree with the point that Nigerian cities aren't well administered. Not that this isn't true, but it's not the source of our challenges. The source of our challenges comes from many places, but one that plays a way bigger role that governance is taste.

The citizens and the government have bad taste. When given a chance they build something with bad taste. Once 100 things of bad taste accumulate you suddenly have an ugly city.

What ppl don't know is that European cities aren't 'planned'. They're administered well compared to Nigerian cities, but they don't follow a plan. They developed organically over centuries and later rules and ordinances were imposed on them.

We celebrate things today that will become a problem tomorrow. So if someone is tasteless enough to throw their trash on the floor, if you make them governor what will make them set up a refuse system? Sentiment? If you tell Nigerians to wrap their goods with leaves they will laugh at you because in their mind plastic is modern. Meanwhile everyone in the world is trying to start wrapping their goods with leaves because plastic was a mistake. Rwanda has even ban plastic.

But you have a society that celebrates the presence of plastic, throws their refuse infront of their own house, then complains that the government isn't getting rid of their trash. Meanwhile, the government is made up of people like them.

I tell people now that 'flyovers' will be a serious problem in the future because the societies that started it are regretting it. But we are tacky and we want tacky things.

marshman293:

Anambarians always boast of having wealthy personnel but most of their cities look like where they threw nuclear bomb.
Urban slum has become a norm in the state.
Same with Abia .
Meanwhile Owerri and Enugu are the only two cities from the southeast been ranked among the first ten most beautiful capital cities in Nigeria.

Nuclear bomb

Ballistic bombardment

0fodirinwa:


Owerri has remained the worst and most backward state capital in southern Nigeria.

Owerri and Aba has continued to be siemese twins as the worst towns in the eastern Nigeria.

Enugu, Onitsha, Awka, Abakaliki, Asaba abd even Umuahia are the best cities in igboland. This is why millions of imo indigenes are living in Onitsha, Enugu and Awka, but you can never find anyone from other Igbo states living in Owerri or anywhere in imo state.

Ofodirinwa:



I would disgree with the point that Nigerian cities aren't well administered. Not that this isn't true, but it's not the source of our challenges. The source of our challenges comes from many places, but one that plays a way bigger role that governance is taste.

The citizens and the government have bad taste. When given a chance they build something with bad taste. Once 100 things of bad taste accumulate you suddenly have an ugly city.

What ppl don't know is that European cities aren't 'planned'. They're administered well compared to Nigerian cities, but they don't follow a plan. They developed organically over centuries and later rules and ordinances were imposed on them.

We celebrate things today that will become a problem tomorrow. So if someone is tasteless enough to throw their trash on the floor, if you make them governor what will make them set up a refuse system? Sentiment? If you tell Nigerians to wrap their goods with leaves they will laugh at you because in their mind plastic is modern. Meanwhile everyone in the world is trying to start wrapping their goods with leaves because plastic was a mistake. Rwanda has even ban plastic.

But you have a society that celebrates the presence of plastic, throws their refuse infront of their own house, then complains that the government isn't getting rid of their trash. Meanwhile, the government is made up of people like them.

I tell people now that 'flyovers' will be a serious problem in the future because the societies that started it are regretting it. But we are tacky and we want tacky things.

Let me respectfully disagree to an extent!..........I am yet to see a beautiful city that is not well run and administered: with very strong town planning authorities both national and sub-national directing affairs....NONE! is is like saying a well dressed and beautiful woman does not take the time to discipline her eating habits ,carefully pick her clothes and generally take care of herself ! Barcelona and Paris are arguably the best planned cities in Europe, the planning started centuries ago and the promoters were very intentional about their goals. We cannot wish sanity and organisation unto Onitsha...........it has be a deliberate process o! That is why Obi as a manager had to go to UN habitat to get a masterplan for Awka.....the misfits that followed him jettisoned the plan...today we are back to square 1. The thing is that , the chaotic nature of our cities poses a substantial and practical problem! Solving the problem usually comes with both substantive and styling components !

Pls who know soludo should tell him to dualize Nkisi nkwelle road and beautify it..that place is new Onitsha with fine fine mansions.. Pls Anambra state Government dualize this road to express.. Haba..we hv been waiting for this long long time..secondly.. Beautify Onitsha express way from bridge head to ogbunike..sweep out sand hip on the road sides..we need road sweepers to make our major city roads neeat..

ebufa:








Let me respectfully disagree to an extent!..........I am yet to see a beautiful city that is not well run and administered: with very strong town planning authorities both national and sub-national directing affairs....NONE! is is like saying a well dressed and beautiful woman does not take the time to discipline her eating habits ,carefully pick her clothes and generally take care of herself ! Barcelona and Paris are arguably the best planned cities in Europe, the planning started centuries ago and the promoters were very intentional about their goals. We cannot wish sanity and organisation unto Onitsha...........it has be a deliberate process o! That is why Obi as a manager had to go to UN habitat to get a masterplan for Awka.....the misfits that followed him jettisoned the plan...today we are back to square 1. The thing is that , the chaotic nature of our cities poses a substantial and practical problem! Solving the problem usually comes with both substantive and styling components !

Barcelona and Paris are among the only 'planned' cities in Europe. Again, the rest grew organically. Both were planned about 200 years ago. Most cities in Europe are over 800-1000 years old. PAris was planned after a massive fire cleared the old city. London, Amsterdam, Berlin are not planned.

Some cities are planned and some are not, but it doesn't determine what the city will be quality-wise. Especially if you have bad taste, you will plan things that are bad and tasteless. We were celebrating Keke when it came, now we think it's a problem. Plastics, 'fly over', etc

Even look at IGR. Nigerians are celebrating that as a metric of government success. IF you tell them this will be a problem in 15 years, they will argue. To rate your governments success by how much money they take from you lol. When it's time to make the decision we make bad ones because we have no taste.


At the same time, we exaggerate 'how bad' the average Nigerian city is. True be told they're not that bad and are improving.

NEW HOUSE OPENING @NNEWI



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlbiajRwNfY

investnow2013:
NEW HOUSE OPENING @NNEWI



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlbiajRwNfY

Interior looks nice and up to spec! No expenses spared!

Ofodirinwa:


Barcelona and Paris are among the only 'planned' cities in Europe. Again, the rest grew organically. Both were planned about 200 years ago. Most cities in Europe are over 800-1000 years old. PAris was planned after a massive fire cleared the old city. London, Amsterdam, Berlin are not planned.

Some cities are planned and some are not, but it doesn't determine what the city will be quality-wise. Especially if you have bad taste, you will plan things that are bad and tasteless. We were celebrating Keke when it came, now we think it's a problem. Plastics, 'fly over', etc

Even look at IGR. Nigerians are celebrating that as a metric of government success. IF you tell them this will be a problem in 15 years, they will argue. To rate your governments success by how much money they take from you lol. When it's time to make the decision we make bad ones because we have no taste.


At the same time, we exaggerate 'how bad' the average Nigerian city is. True be told they're not that bad and are improving.

Exactly.

European cities were built before the automobile, before electricity, before telecommunications, before rail but they made an effort to modernize. The bulk of Nigerian cities were built after 1930. The old towns are less than 10% of the space. But you see the selfish, unintelligent behavior of the Nigerian authorities already at work.

A classic example is the old Enugu road that the British built with Igbo labor from Onitsha to Enugu. The British knew that it needed to be wide enough to contain vehicles so they made it a two-lane road in each direction. They left enough space for an extra lane on each side which they demarcated by planting Mango trees. Start from Zik's Mausoleum and see what happened to that road. Parts of its widths remain but a bulk has been encroached on by walls and buildings. So now the old Enugu road has gone from a two-lane road that could have been three-lanes to a two-lane road that becomes one-lane as you approach Awka or Onitsha. The setback could have even been used for utilities like street light poles, phone cables, underground drainage but no way to do that now. So much for sense and education.

This is the kind of stupid and selfish lawlessness that creates chaos and congestion in urban areas in Nigeria. You see buildings built under high tension lines. You see people selling oranges in wheelbarrows on expressways meant for high speed movement. In Lagos you see people selling tomatoes on rail tracks. Utterly ridiculous things that European authorities never tolerated. The public space is the public space and is meant to serve a purpose not to be converted to private real estate.

Mktinsight the jobless frustrated fellow that should be in elderly people's home but you have turned this thread to retirement home where you sit to complain about the whole Nigeria. Mktinsight aka abuzz33, you failed in life, if not you would be playing with your grand children but you chose to hide in this thread. Mktinsight aka abuzz33 go and do something else with your miserable life because when you were as young as the present crop of Nigerian leaders, you were busy sleeping from onr brothel to another, now you are only on wheelchair, you decided to be a useless bitter frustrated armed chair critic. Mktinsight aka abuzz33 do something else to help yourself lol

abuzz33:

Exactly. European cities were built before the automobile, before electricity, before telecommunications, before rail but they made an effort to modernize. The bulk of Nigerian cities were built after 1930. The old towns are less than 10% of the space. But you see the selfish, unintelligent behavior of the Nigerian authorities already at workA classic example is the old Enugu road that the British built with Igbo labor from Onitsha to Enugu. The British knew that it needed to be wide enough to contain vehicles so they made it a two-lane road in each direction. They left enough space for an extra lane on each side which they demarcated by planting Mango trees. Start from Zik's Mausoleum and see what happened to that road. Parts of its widths remain but a bulk has been encroached on by walls and buildings. So now the old Enugu road has gone from a two-lane road that could have been three-lanes to a two-lane road that becomes one-lane as you approach Awka or Onitsha. The setback could have even been used for utilities like street light poles, phone cables, underground drainage but no way to do that now. So much for sense and education.This is the kind of stupid and selfish lawlessness that creates chaos and congestion in urban areas in Nigeria. You see buildings built under high tension lines. You see people selling oranges in wheelbarrows on expressways meant for high speed movement. In Lagos you see people selling tomatoes on rail tracks. Utterly ridiculous things that European authorities never tolerated. The public space is the public space and is meant to serve a purpose not to be converted to private real estate.

abuzz33:


Government has enough allocation to do the basics. Anambra is just 4,000sq km. Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi are less than 100 sq km in total. If you actually build 100 km of road in each city that will cost 100 billion or less. No state governor has dedicated just 10 billion a year in roads to the three cities each. Obiano built just the flyovers in Awka and one or two urban roads and that was it.

If you organise proper large bus services and routing and get rid of the chaos of kekes in dense urban areas that will cost you around 50 billion. You will decongest roads, make fares affordable and increase sanity and accessibility.

If you relocate markets out of major roads and enforce requirement of parking, water supply, toilets, security then you set a standard and people will not flood the state and see it as a place you can sell anyhow and anywhere without control.

100 %

AmericanQuarter:
Update: Old INEC Road Awka. The old asphalt was completely removed before filling and reconstruction began

This looks solid.