A prominent Igbo leader and the Coordinator of Global Igbo Leaders (GIL), an apex body of global Igbo Leaders in the diaspora, Nze Amadiebube Mbama, has appealed to Imo State government to beam it’s development searchlight on Ibiasoegbe and Ofeahia communities both in Oru-West local council of the state.
Mbama in a statement bemoaned the neglect of the two communities by successive administrations in the state.
This is even as Mbama regretted that both Ibiasoegbe and Ofeahia are yet to benefit from development intervention projects of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC).
He noted that the two communities are statutorily entitled to benefit from development intervention projects from the two agencies.
According to him, Ibiasoegbe and Ofeahia are yet to have any project executed by either of the two interventionist agencies while other communities in the same local council with them have severally benefited from both NDDC and ISOPADEC.
Mbama further noted that all the social amenities in the two communities were provided through communal efforts without support from any tier of government.
Some of these social amenities include the five primary schools, primary health center, the post office, customary court and the electricity project as well as the secondary school.
Mbama noted that the only government funded infrastructure in the communities is the road leading to the community that was constructed under the administration of former governor Rochas Okorocha.
He therefore, urged the state government under Governor Hope Uzodinma, NDDC and ISOPADEC to come to the rescue of the communities.
The Igbo leader noted that the call has become imperative in order to give the people of the two communities a sense of belonging as part of Imo state.
He noted that the harsh economic situation in the country have made it difficult for the two communities to sustain the maintenance and possible upgrade of these infrastructures that were driven by self help in the first place.
The areas that need urgent government intervention according to him include the renovation of classroom blocks, upgrading of the health center as well as grading of feeder roads in the two communities.