THE 5,000-unit mega city housing project in Ebonyi State being bankrolled by the Africa Nations Development Programme, ANDP, has been described as yet another milestone by the state administration of Governor Dave Nweze Umahi.

Commending Umahi for attracting the project, the David Umahi Nweze Akubaraoha Ebonyi Transformation Agenda, DUNAETA, said that the feat had once again proved that Umahi is one of the best things to have ever happened to Ebonyi State.

“This housing project that will comprise of 5,000 detached two bedroom bungalows and other facilities such as schools, water, electricity, police station, barracks, hospitals among others is not only a milestone but also a strategic move to put Ebonyi in the league of the most developed states in Nigeria. This project that will be executed by this international body will cost the Ebonyi State Government little or nothing apart from the donation of the land and construction of a two-kilometre road to the site,” DUNAETA said in a statement issued on Friday, June 29, in Abakaliki, the state capital, by Lady Monica Chidinman Ada Eze, founding president of the organisation.

Umahi, who laid the foundation for the project on Saturday, June 24, in Umuobuna Etiti Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area, pledged that a similar project would be sited at Izzi Local Government Area. The DUNAETA expressed profound gratitude to Umahi, Samson Omojuyigbe, the ANDP director general, and the people of Umuobuna community, who donated the land, for making the project a reality.

The group also commended the governor for the arrangements which his administration had concluded with the Bank of Industry to deposit N2 billion to fund small scale industries in the State, which would be made available to any group of people in the state with viable projects. The DUNAETA equally expressed joy that efforts were being made to assist investors interested in the development of limestone and salt in the state, while the administration is cooperating with Larfage, a multi-national cement company, which is at the final stage of establishing the biggest cement factory in the country in Ebonyi, even as efforts are in progress to see that Nigercem in Nkalagu resume production soon.

Ada Eze a.k.a Ada Ebonyi, who is a daughter of Umuobuna Community in Uburu, assured that the DUNAETA would cooperate with other stakeholders to ensure Governor Umahi’s re-election in 2019. “To us in Ebonyi State, Umahi has nothing else to prove as he has demonstrated without any reasonable doubt that he is a leader who has the vision to take Ebonyi State to the next level. We urge the good people of Ebonyi State to speak with their votes in 2019 and ensure that landslide victory for Governor Umahi so as to ensure that he gets four more years with which to build on the great foundation he has laid for our dear State,” the DUNAETA said.

—  Jun 29, 2017 @ 19:00 GMT