…Community leader rues lack of government presence
By Dave Okpogadie, Asaba
The Abala community in Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta state has called on the administration of Governnor Ifeanyi Okowa to extend his developmental strides to the community.
A renowned philanthropist in the community, the Odogwu of Abala, High chief Christopher Iwale made the appeal on behalf of the community while speaking to journalists in his resident.
Chief Iwale remarked that Abala community had never enjoyed the presence of the government in any way, adding that the few amenities, including the schools in the community, were made possible through self efforts.
He said the community has been lacking good access road, school, hospital and electricity supply, noting that the community only has a single primary school, while the secondary school in the community was built by them, adding that the schools lack teachers.
He revealed that he had to buy dredging machine on his own to sand fill the access roads, believing that by that move the state government would be encouraged to take action but nothing was done by the state government in form of support.
“We have written to several authorities for help, but they keep on promising that they will respond in a short time and till date none of them has deemed it fit to honour such promise.”
Chief Iwela also complained about the impact of the lack of roads on the Abala community farmers, saying the farmers always find it very difficult to convey their farm products to the market because of lack of roads, thereby making buyers to take advantage and rip the farmers off.
“Because of the poor situation of the roads, our farmers find it hard to transport their farm produce and thereby often suffer loss. Our community is agrarian and the government should please come to our aid.”
Chief Iwela, who has numerous titles within and outside Delta state due to his philanthropic activities, revealed that he bought a vehicle and a speed boat for anti-cult to assist the security operatives in the community to curb crime, adding that he had done same in other communities
He appealed to the State Governor Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa to come to their rescue, saying the community had been abandoned for too long.
He called on the youths of the community to always exercise patience while expressing the belief that one day somebody will come to their rescue, adding that it was painful to be jobless after graduating from higher institution of learning.