Before the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War, Ohafia under Bende Division had been ear marked as one of the divisions that will be a beneficiary of electricity supply by the then Eastern Nigerian Government administered by Dr. M. I. Okpara. Arrangement had reached an advanced stage when the war escalated. An Isreali firm had been contracted to carry out the project. Some of us as primary school pupils still remember with nostalgia watching the white men erecting the electric poles, running the cables and wires.
Suddenly, all this development came to an abrupt end as the war took a dangerous dimension. The contractors had to be evacuated thus stalling the project.
At the end of the war, ADU with other sister associations like Ohafia Development Union commenced negotiations with East central state government for the continuation of the Electricity project.
In the ADU 4-year development plan, the extension of electric poles into the heart of the town was one among the important issues on the plan.
In 1975, Amaekpu/Ohafia was connected to the National Grid and ‘‘behold there was electricity light’’. The coming of electricity instantly turned Amaekpu into a commercial town with cottage industries, banks and more petrol stations springing up.
We salute the courage of ADU leaders.