Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Idi Abbas has commissioned a new town hall and a 5,000 KVA transformer in Umuokoro Lowa Uboma, Ihitte Uboma local government area of Imo State, marking a new phase of the Nigerian Navy’s civil military cooperation efforts in the community.
The project was brought to the community by Rear Admiral Michael Igwe, Director of Weapon Electrical Engineering at Naval Headquarters and a native son of the area. Speaking at the commissioning, Vice Admiral Abbas, represented by Chief of Naval Transformation and Innovation Rear Admiral Chijioke Onyemaobi, explained that civil military cooperation covers activities and interactions between the military and civil society aimed at accomplishing strategic military objectives, noting the infrastructure drive forms part of the Navy’s Special Quick Impact Project, launched in 2024 to honour accomplished senior officers through impactful community development. Convinced this project will enhance the quality of lives, Abbas said, I believe the Nigerian Navy will certainly not be hurriedly forgotten, urging the community to use the facilities responsibly and maintain strong collaboration with security agencies to support collective national wellbeing, and tying the intervention directly to the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, represented by Deputy Governor Chinyere Ekomaru, commended President Bola Tinubu’s leadership and continued support for the Armed Forces, praising the Navy’s leadership for the intervention and calling the gesture a reflection of deep commitment to the community’s development, national unity and improved living standards, expressing pride in Rear Admiral Igwe’s meritorious service and urging beneficiaries to protect and maintain the facilities. In his welcome remarks, Igwe explained that the interventions resolved genuine hardships the Umuokoro and Umunzeduru communities had endured for years, revealing that the area had gone without electricity for three and a half years due to a faulty transformer beyond repair, until the newly installed 5,000 KVA unit, activated two months earlier, restored power to the rural population and surrounding areas. The project also delivered a fully furnished, 80 person capacity town hall with modern restroom facilities, replacing a dilapidated structure built in the 1970s, and Igwe thanked the Chief of Naval Staff for providing the funding, leadership and vision needed to complete the infrastructure in record time.
Community leader Chief Collins Nwachukwu expressed delight at the development and used the occasion to appeal to state and federal governments, along with public spirited individuals, to help address the area’s erosion problems and lack of a proper road network. The ceremony drew notable state figures including Imo State House of Assembly Speaker Chike Olemgbe and Imo State Commissioner of Police Audu Garba Bosso.
