– N30M is enough to build the Hall.
– State Govt. should develop Nnewi.
Giving historical background of how the Nnewi Town Hall Project started, he said,
“During one of Nzuko-Ora Nnewi meeting, the President General of Nzuko-Ora Nnewi, Chief Sir Ugochukwu Udemezu, announced that the state government provided N20M Community Choose Your Project for Nnewi, surprisingly, in the next meeting, without consulting anybody, Ugochukwu Udemezu announced that the money will be used to build a town hall for Nnewi”
“Without consulting anybody, Ugochukwu Udemezu said that the project should be sited in a land that belongs to Uruagu Community, I suggested that Nzuko-Ora Nnewi Leadership needs to discuss with Uruagu Community, before taking the land, but unfortunately, Ugochukwu Udemezu decided to take laws into his hands, he also decided to instigate the minds of other Nnewians against Uruagu Community, according to him, that government has directed that the project should be sited in the said land”
[READ ALSO] Nnewi Community Project: Melie Onyejepu Clarifies Role, Amid Controversy“I will not like to talk about what later happened because the story is embarrassing. After that ugly incident, during the next meeting, yet again, without consulting anybody, Ugochukwu Udemezu announced another location for the project, we found out that the said location belonged to the state government”
“Without consulting any of the community leaders, the next thing we heard was that the project will be flagged off. Nothing was discussed, no committee was set-up, no supervision, we don’t even know the contractor and the terms of the contract”
“Even as the President-General of Uruagu Community, I have about seven (7) committees in charge of different responsibilities, they brief our community in every meeting if the need arises. I have committees like, Market Committee, Electrical Committee, Works Committee and the rest that handles community challenges”
“As far as that project is concerned, only Ugochukwu Udemezu is the person that can account for money spent so far in the project. He has not accounted for the N30M that has been spent on the project”
“When the building collapsed, I was the first person that brought it to public notice, I called some journalists who accompanied me to site, to see the extent of the damage”
“As a Professional Engineer, I knew that the building had a lot of structural issues. As damage control, Ugochukwu Udemezu and his cohorts organised and patched the building”
Speaking about on what he termed as the excesses of the Publicity Secretary of Nnewi, Sir Augustine Ikeh (Ikedoji), he described Ikedoji as a beginner in leadership, noting that the position of Nzuko-Ora Nnewi Publicity Secretary is the first leadership position, Ikedoji has handled in his life, he stated, that he is going to take the various attack of Ikedoji on his person, in good fate.
Speaking about Nzuko-Ora Nnewi Leadership, he described the current leadership as a total flop, he said that the current Nzuko-Ora Nnewi which is enmeshed in crisis is the worst since the history of the body.
He exonerated government as part of those who have stalled the building of the project, he placed the blame on the community leadership.
He said, “Nnewi is a large community, Uruagu is bigger than Onitsha North and South put together, in Uruagu, we have about fifteen communities. The decision to build Nnewi Town Hall Project was a decision solely taken by Ugochukwu Udemezu”
“I suggested then, that Ndi Nnewi needs to come together and decides what the money should be used for””As a Professional Engineer, N20M is enough to build and roof the town hall, we don’t even know what the N10M our brother, Chief Sir Cletus Ibeto, brought was used for. I doubt if the money was used for the collapsing project”
“To be sincere, that Town Hall Project is a death trap, I plead with the government to intervene and save our community from this sorry situation that selfish interest has put us into”
However, Hon. Amb. Charles Nwoye also pleaded with the government to intervene in the deplorable state of roads in Nnewi especially in Uruagu Community, which has the worst road network.
Nnewi Community Project: Govt. Cannot Release Money For Collapsing Project – Arc. Ezeobi.
It will be recalled that the Special Adviser to the Governor of Anambra State on Community Affairs, Architect Innocent Ezeobi has said that the State Government cannot release money for community projects that have structural and technical issues.
Speaking to Anaedoonline, the Governor’s aide said that during his inspection of Nnewi Community Town Hall Project funded by the state government through the “Community Chose Your Project Initiative”, it was observed that some parts of the building had cracks, while other parts were collapsing. This development implies that the contractor did not take the safety of the end users into consideration.
According to him, until his agency receives the technical report of the building, the State Government cannot release money for the continuation of the building project.
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