In 2021, students of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in Abia State protested after Chidinma Ogbonna, a final year student, was killed by a truck driver who was said to have lost control of his vehicle while negotiating a bad portion of the dilapidated Umuahia –Ikot Ekpene highway.

Accidents along the highway-particularly from the Umuahia end have become a recurring decimal. In 2018, a 400-level student of the University, Obinna Chiaha, was also killed by a commercial driver who was trying to overtake a trailer at high speed.

Umudike, one of the communities In Ikwuano Local Government Area which hosts the university, is a beehive of activities. The road is ever busy with students crisscrossing to undertake different activities inside the market. Sadly, both students of the University and other residents of the community have borne the brunt of the dilapidated state of the road, which, apart from having potholes, is narrow, being a single lane. Through protests and letters, they have asked both the State and federal governments to intervene.

In 2019, the Federal Executive Council, FEC approved the emergency repairs of the road. Adimchi Chibundu, who owns a boutique along the road, alleged that the government at the time had told him and other business owners to move their shops as the plan was to dualise it.

“We were ready to remove our shops because we felt that the government had finally heard our cry and considered the economic benefits of the road,” he said. “They also promised to pay compensation”.

The contractor at the time, Desak Construction Coy Nigeria Limited, was not mobilised to the site. Chibundu said he did not remove his shop after he noticed that no work was ongoing and that the plan was not to dualise the road afterall.

In 2021, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, announced that the re-construction of the 50-km Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Federal Road had been re-approved for funding, now under the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Road Tax Credit Scheme, to be executed by Hartland Nigeria. The FEC had approved N13.2billion for the project.

Fashola was quoted as saying that the approval was in response to appeals made by the member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Sam Onuigbo, who had sought the government’s intervention on the deplorable federal road.

The minister urged the lawmaker to prevail on his constituents to remove all structures and crops within the right of way to allow for free and speedy reconstruction of the road.

Managing Director of Hartland Nigeria Limited, Fayez Khalaf confirmed the release of funds by the federal government to enable the company to expedite action on the project during a site inspection in February.

The lawmaker Onuigbo also confirmed that the money had been released.

Khalaf the construction company’s MD was quoted in 2021 as saying that the immediate focus was to rehabilitate the deplorable 10-km Umuahia-Oboro portion of the road to end the suffering of the road users and filling of the failed portions, especially at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.

Same old story…
However, months after the funds for the reconstruction of the road was approved and released, nothing changed. As residents of the community waited for the construction company to resume work, the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA stepped in and started filling the potholes.

“That is why it is a bit motorable”, said the traditional ruler of Umudike Community, Eze Dike. “We don’t know the essence of having FERMA do maintenance on a road which has been fully awarded and paid for”.

Dike said that each time the potholes open again and FERMA is not on the ground, he gets youths of the community to fill them up with sand during sanitation to prevent accidents.

Residents who spoke to The ICIR said that they noticed some drainage construction work and k ongoing at the Okwe and Ahiekwe end of the road in January. But after some time, the construction stopped.

As the road remains in its bad state, business owners continue to count losses. Because it is ever busy and small, commuters hardly stop by the roadside to buy anything.

A trader who runs a provision store where she sells beverages and snacks by the roadside said she cleans her wares every morning due to dust.

“I am tired of talking about the state of the road because we have complained severally, “she said. “The road is strategic, giving that this is a student community, and so, it is surprising why the government does not want to work on it”.

Chibundu the boutique owner also said he hardly makes sales because dust often covers his clothes on display and those inside his shop.

Fruit sellers and those who deal in foodstuffs always cover their wares to protect them from dust emanating from the road.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/in-nigerias-southeast-residents-count-loses-as-federal-roads-remain-uncompleted-abandoned/

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Good roads in Nigeria is like scarce commodities