KenGali:
Hello Chaps! I want to commend Sullivan on his strides in Enugu, as well as make complaints.

A.
I would like to give him a hearty congratulation on the installation of traffic lights across the metropolis. There is now one at Ogui, About 3 on Presidential rd and as am speaking a new one is being installed at ESBS. This is great.

However if you have been driving around Enugu recently, you will notice that almost two minutes is lost whenever the lights turns green at these stops, in fact the worst case is at presidential, where motorist at the front of the stop may never realise the lights are green, till the is a loud honking barge from vehicles behind them.

The real issue is that the stop limit marks at these traffics stops have been placed too close to the lights. Once you are at the front of the stop limit line, your angle is such that can not see the traffic light change colour. The road markers should kindly take the traffic limit line back about 4m from the traffic light to make them ergonomic for human use.

B.
I would also commend the State Governor on the quality and spate of road construction in the state. However, there are plenty of spots where these roads have been taken over by sand sediment. What's the use of driving through a tarred road that has been settled by sand. Basically the problem is drainage. Where the rain run off has been made to slow down, it will unload its sediments. It is not feasible to have a complete drainage system at this time, so the right thing is to carry out maintenance works on these road sections. I saw recently that the sediments around Okpara square where being removed, that same service can be extended to many other places. a very bad one is on the road leading to Malinda Estate, an entire road section has been taken over by sand.

C. A section of the road along Okpara square is already showing signs of fatigue failure. The section on the side with the uncompleted conference centre. The entire section is crisscrosses with cracks, which shows that the section has been under flexural stress, due to the support based either being mobile, or washed out, or under clay expansion. I was thinking that as in other countries, such short term failure are the responsibility of the contractor since it is a design issue. They should be called back to foot the repair before the whole thing is washed out within the year.

centje:
PG school in UNEC, is both a beautiful and massive building. It's undergoing finishing touches at the moment.

However, the building, with crane, in picture below is UNEC's new Administrative block.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/1754992_20141003163952_jpegc148cd603003a41fd4a72ad66441d7aa

KenGali:


Due to lack of removal, most sand deposit accumulations are way more than what sweepers can handle. It will be nice if Enugu can clean her roads seriously once a week, or even once a month, especially after heavy rainfall.

spyder880:


I had a big fight with the touts last three months, am still waiting and finding their trouble but they have all known me and are reluctant to take on me again. I will choose a day and go looking for them again, someone needs to put these touts where they belong.

passion007:

I couldn't agree more.
It was on the news recently that Enugu North LGA which includes Enugu city center has the highest number of taxes, levies, fines, penalties etc of all states studied in a certain research.
This is particularly worrisome at a time Enugu is attempting to attract the much needed foreign investment.
Although I've seen these same highway officials (so-called Ministry of Transport officials) in Abia and Edo, I think its a trend that must be nipped in the bud.
In Abia, they impounded my car because i didnt have the state MoT clearance even though I was merely in transit through the state, and it took the intervention of a relative to wrest me from their hands.
In Enugu, I was accused of not stopping when the amber light came on. I insisted I crossed when the light was green. They threatened to replay their cameras, and because I was very sure, I dared them to. After some 30 minutes of wrangling, they let me go though.

passion007:

I couldn't agree more.
It was on the news recently that Enugu North LGA which includes Enugu city center has the highest number of taxes, levies, fines, penalties etc of all states studied in a certain research.
This is particularly worrisome at a time Enugu is attempting to attract the much needed foreign investment.
Although I've seen these same highway officials (so-called Ministry of Transport officials) in Abia and Edo, I think its a trend that must be nipped in the bud.
In Abia, they impounded my car because i didnt have the state MoT clearance even though I was merely in transit through the state, and it took the intervention of a relative to wrest me from their hands.
In Enugu, I was accused of not stopping when the amber light came on. I insisted I crossed when the light was green. They threatened to replay their cameras, and because I was very sure, I dared them to. After some 30 minutes of wrangling, they let me go though.

Charlesdonald:
dose people doing dis nonsense will later come out and say Government is not working

biafrandream:



It's very appalling. And the one whose poster is littering the bus stop was once a commissioner of environment under Chimaroke. He now wants to be the governor, yet he cannot help to keep the city that gave him everything in life clean. I mean Chinedu Onu.

biafrandream:




When the news broke that Enugu ranked 3rd in the IGR table, i became very apprehensive. Over taxation is not good for any business. In fact one prominent Enugu man was complaining bitterly that businesses are closing down in Enugu and moving to other states due to multiple taxation. Somebody had once complained to me that he closed his business in Enugu because of taxes and levies.

The major problem we Igbos have is that we are always eager to have a return on investment at the shortest possible time, if not we close down the business. Igboland needs to attract as much businesses as possible, both small and medium scale, and taxation and levies should not be used to close scare them. In fact no business should pay any tax until it's viability is ascertained. We should learn from the wisdom of the Yoruba man. The Yoruba man made his land so welcoming that once you come in there no one troubles. They leave you to grow your business first before thinking of taxing you but the foolish Igbo man would rather close down your business even before the business starts. Today Lagos state makes more 200b naira from IGR, yet waxing stronger.

Yes one may argue that the state government needs money to deliver infrastructure but what is the point building houses if you have no one to live in them after completion. We should first attract and encourage businesses before taxing them. I received the news about Enugu IGR moving up to 6billion because i was wondering which business in Enugu contributed that amount except the already overburdened ones.

Please, we must understand that once you overtax people and their businesses, they will quietly close down and move to other states and you will never be able to have them back again.

The white people who attract tourists to their country are not foolish. We must emulate them.

basilo101:

Picture or it didnt happen. this is 3D rendering of the new PG skull under construction at nsukka campus beside Augustine Ilodibe building which houses the old PG skull. those who r experts in university administration, plz can a uni have two PG skulls? and how can u explain the fact that enugu based depts submit forms and write aptitude test at nsukka? i will get a clearer pic wen the weather is brighter, meanwhile u can manage this

Charlesdonald:
it works bt it is around okpara square and government house .........if u want to see dem u go dere around 6am,especially on saturdays

Handsomegod:
Good to know that more people are becoming aware of the infamous "road edge" sand accumulation. I've noted that earlier on this thread.Additionally,the irritating and annoying growth of shrubs and weeds in the road medians come next.The solution lies in erecting metal rails to protect the medians and providing spaces every 1000 metres with Zebra crossing to properly guide ease of crossing over the other side of the road.From the pics I've seen so far,pedestrians walk through the median from all points and directions and these ensured flowers,ornamental trees and grasses planted on these mediand don't grow.Check out Chime Avenue and almost every other major road except Bisala. Another point of referece were the street light poles.You find the switch compartment dangling open with the naked wires threatening to "shock" u if dare get close.Iam perfectly sure Service Agreements were contained in the various contracts signed with the companies who provided these utilities.Nothing beats clinical execution in provision of public utilities.If the various ministries cannot give clinical touches to our facilities,then let the govt establish "EnugU Metro Devt Board" as obtains in some other states who take these things serious.happy sunday alll!!

Charlesdonald:
this ur idea is really great bt don't u think that those rail might b stollen or damaged

Handsomegod:
Good to know that more people are becoming aware of the infamous "road edge" sand accumulation. I've noted that earlier on this thread.Additionally,the irritating and annoying growth of shrubs and weeds in the road medians come next.The solution lies in erecting metal rails to protect the medians and providing spaces every 1000 metres with Zebra crossing to properly guide ease of crossing over the other side of the road.From the pics I've seen so far,pedestrians walk through the median from all points and directions and these ensured flowers,ornamental trees and grasses planted on these mediand don't grow.Check out Chime Avenue and almost every other major road except Bisala. Another point of referece were the street light poles.You find the switch compartment dangling open with the naked wires threatening to "shock" u if dare get close.Iam perfectly sure Service Agreements were contained in the various contracts signed with the companies who provided these utilities.Nothing beats clinical execution in provision of public utilities.If the various ministries cannot give clinical touches to our facilities,then let the govt establish "EnugU Metro Devt Board" as obtains in some other states who take these things serious.happy sunday alll!!

biafrandream:



My brother thanks for speaking out against the menace of sand sediments on Enugu roads. It is appalling that after every rain drop in Enugu, every vehicle on the road turns red and you will be wondering where the mud came from. I noticed that the same problem applies to every road in Enugu except Bisala. It is not enough to pick garbage like waterproof, plastic and metal containers, the roads should also be thoroughly swept from time to time, to ensure longevity. As long as the wind continues to blow on the soil exposed to the air, those sand will continue to settle on the side of the roads and the only remedy is to remove them. I have been wondering why the government would spend billions of naira to build roads but cannot spend few thousands of naira to ensure the roads are rid of sand, at least once a week. If the government does not have enough fund to employ people, please what is the job of thousands of people who collect monthly salary from the local governments scattered across the state. It is a fact that 80% of local government staff are idle doing nothing, while there are jobs to do. Every road is prone to accumulate dust from time to time no matter how well built. The roads need to be constantly swept to get rid of those sand. When the sand accumulate over time, it turns into mud and it impacts negatively on the roads when it rains. The mud retains water longer than necessary after every rain, and that cracks the road easily. Please those idle state and local government staff should be deployed to sweep the roads at intervals, at least once a week.

KenGali:
Hello Chaps! I want to commend Sullivan on his strides in Enugu, as well as make complaints.

A.
I would like to give him a hearty congratulation on the installation of traffic lights across the metropolis. There is now one at Ogui, About 3 on Presidential rd and as am speaking a new one is being installed at ESBS. This is great.

However if you have been driving around Enugu recently, you will notice that almost two minutes is lost whenever the lights turns green at these stops, in fact the worst case is at presidential, where motorist at the front of the stop may never realise the lights are green, till there is a loud honking barge from vehicles behind them.

The real issue is that the stop limit marks at these traffics stops have been placed too close to the lights. Once you are at the front of the stop limit line, your angle is such that can not see the traffic light change colour. The road markers should kindly take the traffic limit line back about 4m from the traffic light to make them ergonomic for human use.

B.
I would also commend the State Governor on the quality and spate of road construction in the state. However, there are plenty of spots where these roads have been taken over by sand sediment. What's the use of driving through a tarred road that has been settled by sand. Basically the problem is drainage. Where the rain run off has been made to slow down, it will unload its sediments. It is not feasible to have a complete drainage system at this time, so the right thing is to carry out maintenance works on these road sections. I saw recently that the sediments around Okpara square where being removed, that same service can be extended to many other places. a very bad one is on the road leading to Malinda Estate, an entire road section has been taken over by sand.

C. A section of the road along Okpara square is already showing signs of fatigue failure. The section on the side with the uncompleted conference centre. The entire section is crisscrosses with cracks, which shows that the section has been under flexural stress, due to the support base either being mobile, or washed out, or under clay expansion. I was thinking that as in other countries, such short term failure are the responsibility of the contractor since it is a design issue. They should be called back to foot the repair before the whole thing is washed out within the year.

biafrandream:




When the news broke that Enugu ranked 3rd in the IGR table, i became very apprehensive. Over taxation is not good for any business. In fact one prominent Enugu man was complaining bitterly that businesses are closing down in Enugu and moving to other states due to multiple taxation. Somebody had once complained to me that he closed his business in Enugu because of taxes and levies.

The major problem we Igbos have is that we are always eager to have a return on investment at the shortest possible time, if not we close down the business. Igboland needs to attract as much businesses as possible, both small and medium scale, and taxation and levies should not be used to close scare them. In fact no business should pay any tax until it's viability is ascertained. We should learn from the wisdom of the Yoruba man. The Yoruba man made his land so welcoming that once you come in there no one troubles. They leave you to grow your business first before thinking of taxing you but the foolish Igbo man would rather close down your business even before the business starts. Today Lagos state makes more 200b naira from IGR, yet waxing stronger.

Yes one may argue that the state government needs money to deliver infrastructure but what is the point building houses if you have no one to live in them after completion. We should first attract and encourage businesses before taxing them. I received the news about Enugu IGR moving up to 6billion because i was wondering which business in Enugu contributed that amount except the already overburdened ones.

Please, we must understand that once you overtax people and their businesses, they will quietly close down and move to other states and you will never be able to have them back again.

The white people who attract tourists to their country are not foolish. We must emulate them.

biafrandream:




When the news broke that Enugu ranked 3rd in the IGR table, i became very apprehensive. Over taxation is not good for any business. In fact one prominent Enugu man was complaining bitterly that businesses are closing down in Enugu and moving to other states due to multiple taxation. Somebody had once complained to me that he closed his business in Enugu because of taxes and levies.

The major problem we Igbos have is that we are always eager to have a return on investment at the shortest possible time, if not we close down the business. Igboland needs to attract as much businesses as possible, both small and medium scale, and taxation and levies should not be used to close scare them. In fact no business should pay any tax until it's viability is ascertained. We should learn from the wisdom of the Yoruba man. The Yoruba man made his land so welcoming that once you come in there no one troubles. They leave you to grow your business first before thinking of taxing you but the foolish Igbo man would rather close down your business even before the business starts. Today Lagos state makes more 200b naira from IGR, yet waxing stronger.

Yes one may argue that the state government needs money to deliver infrastructure but what is the point building houses if you have no one to live in them after completion. We should first attract and encourage businesses before taxing them. I received the news about Enugu IGR moving up to 6billion because i was wondering which business in Enugu contributed that amount except the already overburdened ones.

Please, we must understand that once you overtax people and their businesses, they will quietly close down and move to other states and you will never be able to have them back again.

The white people who attract tourists to their country are not foolish. We must emulate them.

centje:
If I was in still in Enugu I would have gone to UNEC today to get a picture of the building. I once uploaded the picture of the building in this thread, but that's long time ago, the construction work is at finishing touches now.

Innovator90:


Great observation for the above in bold. A lot of natives are oblivious of this traffic light placement flaw and think it's normal. This design flaw is not only restricted to Enugu, it's ubiquitous in Abuja and Lagos. If you are unfortunate to be the first car in the stop light, you would have to look up at 90 degrees to view the light. One shouldn't have to sustain a neck injury to get a glimpse of the light.

Solution
Remove the traffic light post from current position, move it across the adjoining street. We have to get this right in Nigeria starting with our beloved Enugu and let others learn from us. That's why we are Igbos...WE LEAD!

Road sediment issue
This is a common problem in the SE. Drainage is the culprit, however with our unique reddish soil even with proper drainage provision, it will still stain the road and look messy even after the sediments have been collected...Anambra is the worse. The cheapest way to solve or mitigate this issue is to plant grasses around the sidewalks, curbs, surroundings... as seen in the second pic below; you see how clean the street is. Grasses can help keep the streets clean...they naturally collect and hold back these sediments brought by rainfall and/or wind, and keep them away from the streets. Paves and concrete are alternatives but expensive. Sweeping alone will not solve the problem.

Picture 1- Current Enugu
Picture 2- Model

cjrane:


Great points on taxation.Truly, it is the sore point in Nigerian governance. If we get tax collection right, then Nigeria will become a developed country quickly. You are right about our tendency as Igbos to over do anything. Businesses should be taxed but being mindful that you want them to be profitable in order to make sense for the entrepreneur to remain open. However,I don't agree businesses shouldn't be taxed unless they were determined to be profitable. Who makes that distinction, the owner or the government?

One main issue with taxation is that when you make it cheaper to pay bribes than taxes, then the citizens will rather pay the bribes. The other issue is to have a tax enforcement task force, but they should never collect the taxes under any circumstance. If need be, they will escort the defaulter to the banks where to pay, but never directly collecting any money from the citizens in the guise of collecting "taxes".
Above all, making the taxes generally affordable is key to getting people to voluntarily pay up. If a bungalow building was built in 1960, there is no reason it should pay more than N50-N100 naira per month (N600-1,200 naira/year) in taxes. If you make the landlord who is probably more than 80 years old to pay N1,000 naira monthly (N12,000 naira/year) in taxes, he would find it better to bribe the tax taskforce with N500 naira each time than pay what he owes government. This is precisely the problem with Anambra where it is very difficult for the tax collected to be remitted into the state's revenue account.Thus a lot of money is being collected as "taxes" while none gets into the revenue account and IGR is surprisingly very low. Thus, the tax collectors and the riffraffs in that state are enjoying billions of naira as bribes from people who do not want to pay tax. The biggest problem of SE state governments is indeed the ability of the to collect the taxes paid by the citizens. Using contractors or thugs to do this has proven to be merely making money for these thugs who never remit what they collect.Part of Lagos growing IGR is Fashola's ingenious ways of hunting down tax evaders, collecting taxes and making sure the money collected is remitted into state accounts by plugging leakages and loop-holes.

Enugu can surely aspire to N6 billion IGR without even increasing taxes! Just plug the loop holes for leakages and review the taxes so that it is not so burdensome to people! The government should aggressively publicize that state taxes can only be paid at designated banks or checks mailed to a designated post office box.With a stamped self addressed return envelop to mail you your receipt. Then the state government will employ clerks to register each check and amount received in a revenue register, then quickly deposit the checks and issue a receipt mailed back to the payer in his self-addressed envelop they provided.This ensures the state government get their tax money and the payer got his receipt as proof of paid taxes without stress.

londoner:
@Innovator, you make great points, but with the two pics you posted. does the place in the second pic actually have sand? It looks like concrete, grass and earth under the grass. How easy would it be to grow grass on top of the red soil in Enugu? IF the particals in the red earth are sand like and fine, it will be blown by the wind and moved in the rain. Dark soil is heavier and is not easily moved by wind, especialy in rain as it clumps together and gets heavier. In fact wet dark soil is sedimentary.

We may be comparing apples and oranges. You can reduce the appearance and build up or red soil in Enugu, but unless it's all paved and shrubbed over, with no earth exposed there will be traces, and it's because it is red and stands out.

Kigali has the same red soil....yet even with their pavements and shrubs, you can still see the red stains, residue.

Enugu just needs to work on reducing the appearance/collected red soil. IMHO, we should aim for the second Kigali picture. That is more achievable, sustainable and realistic

KenGali:


Well from the pictures you posted I just remembered my Issue number D.
D. The road markers in Enugu are placing Zebra crossings directly on Junction turns. How do they come up with this, it is an unsafe act. It is a cause for accidents in it self. Even when traffic lights have pedestrian buttons, you still have to move the crossing points to start after cars must have fully turned. No one expects a car in the middle of a turn to brake for a zebra crossing. Unless those crossings are just for fancy. I would love to see an Enugu where motorists respect pedestrians. To have that, the flow of pedestrians must also be properly planned properly (with side walk, maybe bicycle paths in future). This flaw can be seen at Agric Bank Junction and WAEC Junction on Independence Avenue, the Junction leading to Federal Secretariat on NTA road. What's the idea putting a zebra crossing at the very start of every Junction?

Back to my earlier issue. The sand sediments I spoke of are not just the cases of aesthetics. In most places where untarred roads join a tarred major road in Enugu you will see a gradual creep of sediments onto the road. Look at the satellite map below, where Presidential road, joins ugwuaji road in front Malinda Estate. The red patch there is more than six inches thick deposit of sand and stones on top of properly tarred roads. I noticed about a month ago that pot holes are now developing there. There is another such spot on Ugwuaji road as you head to PH express. Of course one cannot ask that all streets be tarred and drained, but at least the state ministry of works can go round and scoop these thing out once in a month. Of course sweeping streets once a month will make a lot of benefits for the outlook of Enugu, but this one has passed sweeping.

londoner:


How often is this done, like this in Enugu?

biafrandream:



If we can get anything close to the picture of Kigali you posted, I am not sure anybody would complain. I do not think that complete eradication of red soil on our roads is feasible at least for now considering the budget we operate with, but I believe that constant sweeping and paving of some areas can make a lot of difference.

biafrandream:


Londoner, it is done every morning but you get more people on Saturdays. Okpara sqaure is a place to be every Saturday morning. I used to go there myself when I was in Enugu. There you meet the good the bad and the ugly. There, the rich and the poor collide. If you want umu ivedi, you will get them in quantum.

christejames:
I was in UNEC fortnight ago and didn't see any PG school there. The one that you a claiming to be the PG school is the diagnostic centre under construction (almost completed) opposite Chapel of redemption. The only PG school in UNN is the one in Nsukka campus (project currently abandoned) that Basilo uploaded its prototype. That PG school is so massive and beautiful, the building itself depicts an ark (impressive architecture I must say).

Kcinho:

Next time you get into UNEC ask for the almost completed "centre for excellence" sponsored by CBN and being built by AKIOTA works. It's a massive construction behind Chapel of redemption and UBA.