…Solicit govt support
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
In their bid to revive the economy of their people, Ohafia monarchs under the aegis of Ohafia Traditional Rulers Council, have established a microfinance bank to offer low interest rates for residents of the emerging semi urban town.
They also designed a geographical map for the Ohafia town to guide visitors and tourists visiting the ancient town for the first time.
Sequel to this, the traditional rulers under the leadership of HRH Eze Igwe Ojike, the immediate past Chairman, Ohafia LGA Traditional Rulers Council, invited some foreign and local investors for the exploration, dredging and expansion of the Uduma River in the town for a hydroelectric project, rice cultivation and exploitation of the river’s aquatic life.
During the meeting held at the palace of Eze Ojike at Nkwebi Ohafia, tagged “Quinquennium Conference,” the monarch disclosed that “the traditional rulers of Ohafia Clan have moved beyond the cultural routine” of not only deciding traditional cases in their palaces to developing their areas economically and socially.
He added that the projects would lead to the transformation of Ohafia and other neighbouring towns into a modern architectural city like Dubai.
According to him, the Quinquennium Conference is an economic gathering of royal fathers from the area that holds every five years and that its objective is to enable monarchs to brainstorm and come up with diverse ways of making both the Ohafia Clan and the entire Ohafia LGA the Dubai of Nigeria just like the Arabs did for Dubai in the 1970s.
The five-year conference, he explained, was started in 2017, pointing out the failure to hold in 2022 was due to some factors that included the focus on the 2023 elections which some of the invitees participated, logistics etc.
On how they plan to involve the Abia State Government to key into the various projects, Eze Ojike said the government has expressed deep interest in the programmes of the monarchs and that though the governor or his deputy was not physically present, the various packages will be provided to the government for its own input and participation.
Contributing, Secretary to the Conference and Secretary of Ohafia LGA Council of Traditional Rulers, HRH Eze Dr Ezera Uduma Ezera, outlined other projects being put together by the conference to include: huge business model, setting up of Ohafia Diaspora Board, registration of village/town unions, setting up of centre for the study of Ohafia culture and also appreciation of the noble roles played by their forebears as well as past elder statesmen of Ohafia origin.
He also said that their plan included building of regional markets in the area.
Others, according to him, are the setting up of multimillion medical consortiums to be enjoyed by the 26 villages of Ohafia, which will house a hospital, clinics and health centres, the first of its kind in the sub-Saharan Africa, exploitation of its numerous natural raw materials such as limestone as well as building a garment industry using plantain leaves.
One of the participants at the event, an investor and aeronautical engineer from Thailand, Asia, Mr Rachan Fakmeh, said his country is ready to not only cultivate rice in 22 hectares of land using drone technology, but is prepared to transfer rice planting technology to people of Abia State, adding that with advanced technology and the presence of a river no matter how low, rice would be harvested in large quantity in Ohafia soon.
According to him, the Thailand Embassy in Nigeria is willing to partner with the Ohafia monarchs to ensure that rice is produced as it is done in the Asian country.
Speaking also, a university don and Vice Chancellor of Akaeze University, Ebonyi State, Prof I. U. Kalu, who gave a lecture, contended that the era of monarchs sitting in their palaces to pour libation and do other mundane things has gone, stressing that in this modern era, traditional rulers are expected to explore and establish projects that will be of immense economic value in their communities.
He explained that monarchs should work hard to harness and use what they have in their domain to get what will be beneficial to their communities, even as he described this method as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique.
Similarly, an expert in hydroelectricity, Engr Odo Ijere from the Techno Consult, Lagos, explained that not only the Uduma River will be of immense benefit in the dredging project; other rivers in Ohafia can still be converted to dams for the hydroelectricity project.
Earlier, the chairman, Ohafia Traditional Rulers Council, HRH Eze Ukoha Kalu Ukoha had stated that the projects will be of immense benefit to not only Ohafia people, but to every community in Abia State and beyond that keys into it.
