Abia’s RAAMP in Crisis

By Obinna Oriaku

In Abia State, Executive Interference has derailed $570M World Bank Programme as State Changes four coordinators in two years.

A development programme that should have transformed Abia’s rural economy is now at risk of collapse not because of funding shortages or lack of ideas, but due to relentless executive interference and political micromanagement.

The Abia Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank-funded initiative, has been thrown into disarray with four different Project Coordinators appointed and removed in under two years. This disturbing pattern of political interference has not only stalled critical infrastructure projects but also placed Abia on the verge of being blacklisted from a programme worth over $570 million.

RAAMP, formerly known as the Rural Access Mobility Project (RAMP), was among the early interventions pursued by the administration of former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in 2015. Through dedication and compliance with World Bank requirements including counterpart funding, Abia was reintegrated into the programme, alongside NEWMAP.

However, since 2018, and more aggressively under the current administration of Governor Alex Otti, the programme has suffered repeated setbacks due to brazen government intrusion. The World Bank strictly forbids political interference in its projects, yet Abia’s leadership appears determined to run the programme as a political extension of government patronage.

Governor Otti inherited Dr. Babington, who had overseen RAAMP under the previous administration, but he was swiftly removed. Mr. Donatus Chinyere, the most senior civil servant, briefly took over before being replaced by Engr. Ogbonnia, whose eight-month stint ended in resignation following allegations of executive meddling and contractor imposition. Mr. Donatus Chinyere was again brought back, this time hoping to he made the substantive coordinator, but his tenure was short-lived and shrouded in controversy. His progress report to RAAMP office Abuja reportedly contradicted the version submitted by the Governor’s office through the Commissioner for Rural Development, Mrs. Ngozi Felix, a move that further exposed the politicization of what should be a technocratic, insulated process.

The consequences of this interference are visible and damning. Aside from the symbolic flag-off of the 19.2km Itukpa–Umuoba Road, other key projects remain stagnant. The construction of rural markets in Arochukwu, Uzuakoli, and Ndi Oru.near Umudike, scheduled for completion five months ago, only began last week. Seven rural access roads across the State meant to link these markets are currently stalled ,with no substantive Project Coordinator in place to steer the programme.

Other states especially in the Northern part of the country have completed the phase of this programme and have started drawing from the funds ment for Abia since world bank adopted an envelop budgeting system for the procurement process.

The World bank/ RAAMP office has given next month for engagement of substantive project coordinator or Abia state risk being removed even before the June 2026 end of the programme.

The Commissioner for Rural Development, Mrs. Ngozi Felix, has been accused of overstepping her mandate and micromanaging a programme that should be free from political interference. Her actions, insiders say, have become a bottleneck to RAAMP’s success, and her excessive influence continues to set the programme backward.

World Bank initiatives are intentionally structured to operate independently from daily state politics. Any attempt by state governments to interfere in such programmes is viewed as a red flag, an affront to the integrity of global development frameworks.

Abia is among the states participating in RAAMP since its inception in 2012, with the goal of improving access to rural farmlands and markets. Now, due to careless executive actions and the hijacking of technocratic processes, Abia risks being axed from this rare opportunity.

If nothing is done to arrest this downward spiral, Abia will not only forfeit a lifeline to its rural economy, it will cement its reputation as a state where political ambition consistently undermines meaningful development.

Once again, the unfortunate truth rings louder: The more things change, the worse they become.

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