COMMENTARY
As Governor Otti Flags Off Uratta, Old Express Roads: The Complete Recovery Of Aba Continues
By Ferdinand Ekeoma
In the next few hours, His Excellency the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, will formally flag off the reconstruction of two of Aba’s most strategic and long-abandoned arteries – Uratta Road and the Old Express Road.
In line with Governor Otti’s standard, work has already commenced ahead of the flag-off.
Today’s flag-off marks a defining moment in the economic history of Enyimba City.
For over 24 years, these two roads have been symbols of abandonment, hardship, and economic strangulation. Today, they become symbols of intentional leadership.
Roads that hold hundreds of thousands of people hostage, deserve not to be abandoned.
To understand the importance of this intervention, one must understand Uratta Road.
Uratta Road is not just any road. It is one of the major township roads in Aba with over 100 adjoining streets depending on it as their sole access. It connects the newly reconstructed Port Harcourt Road to the Old Express Road and to the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
For years now, the roads had become completely impassable. Waterlogged, overgrown with weeds, breeding ground for reptiles, and abandoned even by okada and keke.
Old Express Road, on the other hand, is the historic commercial bypass that holds together the fabric of Aba’s industrial layout. Its collapse meant that heavy-duty trucks, fabric merchants, spare parts dealers, and thousands of SMEs had to divert through longer, more expensive routes, pushing up cost of goods and killing productivity.
Why This Flag-Off Is An Economic Decision, Not Just A Road Project
Governor Otti’s infrastructure revolution has always been more than asphalt. It is an economic strategy. The reconstruction of Uratta and Old Express roads will unlock Aba in five critical ways:
1. Direct Economic Resuscitation: Port Harcourt Road, which Otti has already reconstructed, has seen rents triple, shops reopen, and manufacturing clusters return. The same fate awaits Uratta and Old Express. With thousands of residents and thousands of lock-up shops, workshops, and warehouses along that corridor, the roads will immediately restore property values and bring back artisans, fabricators, and traders who fled.
2. Decongestion and Logistics Efficiency: Aba generates billions in internally generated revenue but loses millions daily to traffic gridlock and bad roads. These two roads will create an alternative evacuation route from Ariaria International Market, Ekeoha Shopping Centre, and Ngwa Road markets to the Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway, cutting travel time, reducing fuel costs, and lowering the price of goods for the ordinary Aba resident.
3. Industrial Linkage and Job Creation: As Governor Otti stated at Christ the King Catholic Church (CKC), Aba earlier this year: “We have just dealt with the hygiene issues – cleaning up the environment, roads, water. We are now focusing on Healthcare, Education, Technology, Industrialization.” Uratta Road is home to hundreds of small-scale industrial clusters – garment makers, shoe makers, metal fabricators. A motorable road means they can receive raw materials and dispatch finished goods efficiently. That means more jobs.
4. Security and Social Well-being: Bad roads breed crime. For years, the craters and floodwaters on Uratta made it a haven for miscreants at night, and an impossible terrain for security patrols and ambulances. Residents have reported deaths, accidents, and insecurity linked directly to the dilapidation. A well-lit, well-drained road with proper walkways is a security intervention.
5. Completion of Aba’s Recovery Masterplan: Governor Otti himself said at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Abayi: “We have been trying to recover Aba and I think that we have recovered Aba. But there is still some work to do… you can be sure it will be done the same way we do our things, very solid; by solid construction companies.”
With Port Harcourt Road done, Ohanku delivered and Obohia being dealt with, and many other road projects either executed or ongoing across the state, Uratta and Old Express represent the missing link.
As the people troop out en mass to witness the flag-off, they will come with excitement and confidence, because they know that Governor Otti does not do political flag-offs ahead of elections. As he told Ndi Aba, “Any project we can’t find the money for, we don’t start. We have found the money. It is in the bank.”
This is intentional governance. Otti builds roads to where value is. He has taken on roads that had been abandoned for 24 years because he understands that Aba’s economy is Abia’s economy. If Aba works, Abia works. If Aba’s SMEs can move, Abia’s IGR grows.
His projects are holistic. They include solar streetlights, modern drainage, and pedestrian walkways because he understands that infrastructure must be climate-resilient and people-centred.
Today’s flag-off is therefore not a ceremony. It is an economic stimulus package. It is a message to the shoemaker in Uratta, the trader in Old Express, the landlord with overgrown weeds in his compound, and the young graduate who left Aba because it became unlivable – that Enyimba City is fully back.
And for that, Governor Otti deserves commendation not just as a builder of roads, but as a builder of livelihoods.
Ferdinand Ekeoma
Special Adviser to the Governor
(Media and Publicity)
October 21, 2026
