Fresh from fashion school in 2022, Onuka Kalu planned to convert one of his father’s two shops, where he formerly sold beverages inside Elu, a community in Ohafia local government, Abia state, into his fashion store.
“The plan was to use one and rent off the second one to generate income for the family”, said Onuka. “I have always dreamt of owning my own fashion store”.
But In June of the same year, engineers from Rokozi Investment Ltd, a construction company, arrived Elu and approached Kalu’s his father to rent the shops for six months to allow them store bags of cement which would be used in the construction of a drainage system for an erosion control project in the community.
Before Rokozi arrived, the road was not entirely bad, cars and motorcycles travelled on it to connect Ozuamabam and other surrounding communities which lead to Umuahia, the capital of Abia State.
“They paid my father N3000 for each of the shops, that is N36,000 for six months”, recalled Onuka who collected the money. “The rent was to expire by December 2022”.
Late Kalu’s son planned to convert one of the shops into a fashion store
Repeatedly, they reassured Onuka’s father that the entire project would not last more than six months. At the expiration of the rent in December, they did not come to remove the over 600 bags of cement that occupied the two shops. By January, 2023, they came back and Onuka’s father told them that he needed the shop for his son.