Awlaw Community Seeks FG Action On Post-War Neglect

The Awlaw community in Enugu State has raised fresh concerns over what it calls 55 years of federal neglect, saying key infrastructure destroyed during the civil war has remained unrepaired, cutting the area off from neighbouring towns.

The community said critical structures damaged during the conflict—including bridges linking Awlaw to communities in Enugu, Anambra and Abia States—were never rebuilt, leaving residents isolated and slowing development.

Speaking in Abuja, a community representative, Chukwunenye Okpara, Esq., said Awlaw served as a major military location during the early phase of the war, noting that the bridges were destroyed by Biafran forces as a defence strategy to slow federal troops.

He explained that the failure to reconstruct the links has kept Awlaw disconnected from towns such as Isuochi, Owere-Ezukala, Ogbunka and Ufuma, despite the community’s historical significance and early adoption of Western education and Christianity.

Okpara recalled that although then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, introduced the Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (3Rs) policy in 1970, Awlaw did not benefit from the programme, adding that major infrastructure damaged during the war remains abandoned more than five decades later.

He said the community is urging the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to revisit post-war reconstruction efforts and prioritise roads, bridges and other infrastructure that would restore connectivity and support economic growth.

According to him, renewed federal attention would address long-standing exclusion and help Awlaw overcome lingering effects of the war.

Residents expressed hope that a comprehensive intervention will finally close a chapter that has remained unresolved for more than half a century.