The Abia State Government has reassured residents especially those in Aba, its commercial hub, that their safety is guaranteed.

CEOAFRICA news desk gathered that this assurance was given to the people of Abia State following the deployment of more soldiers to Abia State to sustain the prevailing peace in the area.

The State Government has also re-enforced ban on the use of motorcycles (Okada) in Aba and its environs by instructing the police to arrest and prosecute anybody found using motorcycles without authorisation in the area.

Cosmos Ndukwe, Chief of Staff to Abia State Governor, also revealed that about 450 additional soldiers have been deployed to the State to fortify the area and assured residents and visitors to the State of their safety.

He noted that business activities is beginning to spring up again in Aba, stressing that it is an indication that sanity has returned to the city that was deserted, due to the activities of kidnappers and armed gangs that laid a siege on the area.

He also recalled that Aba was a no-go area between 2008 to 2010, as investors and patrons from neighbouring states and the West African sub-region withdrew from the commercial city, bringing business activities in the city to a halt.

He summed however that the deployment of soldiers in the area by combined effort of the Federal and State Governments, which quelled the insurgency, is beginning to rekindle the confidence of investors in the commercial city.

Stakeholders are also of the view that the city is on a growth part as a result of the prevailing security and the ongoing rebuilding of infrastructure by the Federal and Abia State Governments in the area.

The new arrangement therefore is also expected to ensure that there is peace throughout the “ember months”, as well as forestall cases of kidnapping and robbery.