Eze Michael Ifi Njoku Kalu, the traditional ruler of Amaiyi Okpo community in Ihechiowa, Arochukwu LGA of Abia State, has appealed to the state government to address three decades of infrastructural abandonment in his domain. The monarch spoke passionately about the deteriorating road network that has essentially isolated his people from the wider region.
The community's roads have deteriorated so badly that residents can no longer drive vehicles through the area, Eze Njoku Kalu told journalists. "Government has never paid attention to the road project for over 30 years.
We trek to Umuchiakuma Junction. There's no car in the community because vehicles cannot enter the village," he said.
The traditional ruler's frustration was evident as he described how the crumbling infrastructure has cut off his subjects from basic services and forced them to walk significant distances to reach neighbouring communities. He specifically called on Governor Alex Otti to prioritise the Okpo-Achara road as part of the administration's infrastructure development agenda.
Eze Njoku Kalu emphasised that Amaiyi Okpo occupies a strategic location as a border community connecting Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, with a substantial voting population. Yet successive administrations have treated it as invisible, he lamented.
The community has attempted to fix internal roads using its own resources, but such local efforts cannot address the scale of decay affecting major thoroughfares. "The community has been trying to fix the internal roads to ease mobility, but there is little a community can do to repair a major road.
We are in trouble," Eze Njoku Kalu appealed.
He also highlighted the absence of government-provided amenities, noting that the few facilities available exist only because indigenes funded them directly. The lack of state presence has become a defining feature of life in Amaiyi Okpo.
Cletus Torti Oleh, former chairman of Okpo Ihechiowa Development Union, shared the monarch's concerns about the community's dire situation. He noted that simply travelling to the area has become an exhausting ordeal for residents and visitors alike.
