₦airaland Forum

eye4eye: Do you know the meaning of rigging? We have never had an election where the incumbent or PDP candidate did not rig the election. Buhari has always been a victim of rigging; especially in 2003 and 2007.

Rigging from whom Please show me the saints in Nigerian politics?

Obiagelli: election is about numbers and that Buhari has got. Who ever packs the numbers gets elected be it primaries or otherwise. Did acn feild ribadu for regional sentiments in 2011?

How come the numbers eluded him in his previous 3 attempts

Katsumoto: Keep consoling yourself.

Do I need to spell out the obvious to you? Fashola on the ticket will bring out Yoruba enmass.

I don't like speculation, even Awo did not surpass 60% in yorubaland, talk less of fashola. The level of angst in the yoruba christian community, will be on full display come 2015.

[quote author=cashkid_is_back]before nko,is everytin in nig nt based on ethnicity n religion[/quote]Yes, the only region in Nigeria that was different was the southsouth. The North supporter Shagari and Waziri, The west Awo, The east Zik and the southsouth of today supported, Awo, Zik, Shagari.With Shagari having the upper hand.

Before 79, it west awo, east Zik,North belewa and midwest belewa. Today the southsouth has Jonah, and their support is going to him.

[quote author=cashkid_is_back]dt their ar apc states does nt guarantee buhari their votes..imo is an apc state bt dt does nt mean dt buhari wil win in imo state.evn in lagos state wic is an apc state,buhari wil loose.under buhari,apc wil neva smell aso rock bt under a different candidate lik rochas or fashola apc may win.dts wat am tryin to say[/quote]Buhari will win the same states he won 2011. The election will see some changes in the southwest. A Buhari/Fashola ticket is a non starter for many Christians in the southwest. Pretend all you want in nairaland, that is the simple truth.

HNosegbe: Reading the trajectory of this thread, it's crystal clear that the 2015 elections will be nothing but a referendum on tribal, ethnic and religious loyalties.

That's all.

That is Nigeria since 1956. Only pretenders say otherwise.

CyberG: Lets be honest, Nigeria MADE A MISTAKE IN 2011 with GEJ and they now have an opportunity to correct it in 2015! A chance to correct a mistake of this scale does not always present itself and Nigerians should do that IMMEDIATELY! When you try a method to solve a problem in your life and it fails, you don't keep doing it for 4 more years, YOU change strategy and method and try something else! It is time Nigeria does just that!

BTW...I don't know enough about Amaechi but he seems fairly courageous! Nigeria needs courageous leaders today, not pussies! A pussy leader will do nothing for Nigeria just pander to every segment of the country to remain leader while the country goes nowhere! You need someone to talk to the northerners, south-southerners, south westerners, south easterners, middle belters and say look, you have a problem and because you have a problem WE and all of us have a problem! I want us to fix that problem TODAY and WE all WILL NOT BE SLEEPING until that problem is FIXED so if you want sleep any soon, it is time to fix IT! This is the kind of person Nigeria needs as president not someone who would say I am not a lion or general or I know corrupt people in my government but I can't tell you or do anything about if so that they won't attack me!

Funny, . come back and cry in 2019

Katsumoto: The debt the US is struggling with today is from the Reagan era. Republicans are trying to kill Obama over raising the debt ceiling twice when Reagan raised the ceiling 18 times and Bush junior raised it 7 times.

People forget, when Carter left office in 1980 United states had about 900B in total debt. it took reagan 8 years to send it to almost 6 trillion. From 1776-1980 total debt 900B.

Obiagelli: who d hell goes to the polls with religion the only thing on his mind.

That is Nigeria, you can wish away, but it's the political reality.

kingoflag: Ah, Bro, don't ever tell that to any red blooded American. Reagan's works during the cold war effectively stamped him as our greatest President ever.

Left them with trillions in debt.

[quote author=edo.girl]No question that Amaechi won't bring as much votes as Fashola, and in my view a Buhari/Fashola ticket remain the most formidable option for APC. I also think Buhari/Amaechi can be a veritable second choice.

A muslim/muslim[/b], particularly one with Fashola on it, is not an issue for most Christians that I know. Right now, people just want a solid leader who will fight corruption.[/quote]Maybe 20 years ago, Nigerians will not tolerate that. Why not offer the Northerners[b] Xtain/Xtians ticket. Then we can count the dead bodies after their mad riots.

Confusion: Na wao o for news o
I'm at the very airport now, I wonder where the confusion is happening
Nothing is happening here

So the pictures on Channels are fake

greggng: How I wish we can have a forum were we can meet physically I would have manhandled the guy that told me to shout up. My question is were is wike an ordinary minister geting all the fund he use to organise GRi .he left his portfolio and the student are at home. He prefer fighting amaechi than taking care of his assignment. How could such a man still remain in office? Whether you like call him ikwerre man but one thing still remain clear. Amaechi is an ibo man and we re prepared to fight this gang up by a few . I repeat there is no law that criminalises ambition. Gej mission to divide nigeria will be accomplish. Niger delta people alone re minority and they need majority to rule.they cannot assume that by force .if there is no freedom of association, freedom of speech then the military should better come rather than wait for gej anarchy

You keep beating your chest. As an Ikwerre man are you not ashamed what Amaechi has turned Rivers State into Is this, the kind of news Rivers State should be making. Who are you going to fight So, you, Yorubas and Fulani are coming to fight Wike in Rivers God help us all.

This's a very big problem in Nigeria. Our inability to get something as basic as our head count right, has caused so much problem in our economy and politics, is just unreal.

Abagworo: Having 44 Local Government Areas proves nothing about the population of Kano State. By my calculation based on Nigerian population fraud, Kano city should be between 3 to 4million people(Which is also the likely population of Ibadan) while Kano State should be around 7million. With that 7million, it is the 2nd most populous State in Nigeria after Lagos which should be around 9 to 10million. Why I challenged the poster is because I don't like false information and not because there was no fraud in the 2006 census. Nigeria's population is not up to 160million and everything was raised in order to achieve a pre-planned population.

Very correct, Nigeria's population is 100m-120M. That 160m-170m is simply a lie.

Khartoum (AFP) - A bus and truck convoy was taking some 3,500 South Sudanese back to their ancestral homeland from Sudan on Monday, a church leader said, in the first major repatriation for months.

But the United Nations says around 40,000 other South Sudanese are still waiting for funding to help transport them from Sudan, where they live in "appalling" conditions at Khartoum-area squatter camps.

"They already started moving," Bishop John Kongi said of the initial group of 2,600 people who left Monday from Kosti, south of Khartoum, in a convoy of 52 buses and 34 trucks loaded with luggage.

Kongi, of the Africa Inland Church, said he expected the remaining 900 to start their three-day road trip Monday night after their belongings were loaded.

All are headed for Wau and Aweil in South Sudan.

The church organised the repatriation which is funded by overseas donors, Kongi said.

"These people, they went to Kosti probably two years ago," said Kau Nak, deputy head of mission at South Sudan's embassy in Khartoum.

"They got stranded."

The church last organised a repatriation in March, Kongi said.

Kosti, 300 kilometres (190 miles) from Khartoum, had been home to the biggest single concentration of South Sudanese needing transport to South Sudan, which became independent in July 2011.

Without money to travel themselves, many lived there in makeshift shelters or barn-like buildings.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) last year airlifted almost 12,000 South Sudanese from Kosti but called the operation exceptional because local authorities there had ordered the South Sudanese to leave after months of waiting for transport.

Those who set out by bus on Monday are part of a final group which had remained in Kosti.

View gallery."Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir (L) stands beside …
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir (L) stands beside South Sudan's President Salva Kiir during a welco …
Funding appeals to help move other South Sudanese "have so far gone unanswered", the UN says on the website of its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The repatriation from Kosti is the first since a September summit between Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir.

Their talks led to improved relations between the neighbours which intermittently clashed along their disputed border last year.

The summit affirmed the commitment of both sides to implement a series of economic and security pacts, including one for the free flow of people and goods across the frontier.

Another agreement provides for the nationals of each country to have rights of residence and economic activity in the other country.

But 98 percent of South Sudanese in the Khartoum-area camps want to go immediately to South Sudan, says a recent survey cited by the UN'S OCHA.

Nak said 20,000 other South Sudanese are estimated to be in eastern Sudan.

The tens of thousands remaining are among millions who fled north during Sudan's 22-year civil war, which ended in a 2005 peace deal that paved the way for South Sudan's independence following an overwhelming referendum vote to separate.

Before independence, many South Sudanese began converging on "departure points" in Khartoum, where they hoped to obtain assistance to go South.

"They assumed that they would only wait a few days or weeks for the promised buses, barges and trucks that would return them to their homelands," OCHA said.

IOM wants to fly 20,000 "most vulnerable" people from the camps to South Sudan, but this requires an estimated $20 million, OCHA said.

Kongi said his church would also like to help transport the Khartoum-area southerners, if funding is available.

"We are praying for this," he said.

lygn19: Its things like dz that makes me wish sm1 like Asari Dokubo was president.
And I can tell u that this same northerners saying they don't want National conference that its Sovereign national conference they want, if GEJ finally succums to it, and announces plans to convey it, a bloody military coup wud occur in Aso rock.
Let them keep deceiving themselves.

The Nigeria of coups is dead and gone. Any coup today, is the start of another civil war. Boys eyes don clear.

abu12: We know those who want one Nigeria, definitely it is not the north but ibos

Please join me in to this hell you can one Nigeria

Wamakko can ask the speaker from his state to do the needful for SNC.

Obrafour: The Federal Public universities are heavily subsidised by government, hence the first choice for qualified Ghanaian and foreign students, hence the passing grades keep increasing to meet the challenge of vacancy.
Starting from this year, Private Universities have started paying Tax.

Just Imagine Nigeria with 200 private universities? The Jobs, Economy impact and competition this will bring to the system. But, my country is stuck with government must do all attitude. When, the government has clearly proven, it does not have the capacity to deliver, over the past 25 yrs.

Obrafour: Private Universities like Central, Vallew View and Ashesi are also competitive.
Don't forget, the colleges in Nigeria can't take all students, this in my opinion make them opt for Ghanaian instituitions as well.

Thanks for trying to educate some goners here. Most Nigerians don't understand we have an access problem in this country. Too many students writing jamb for 20% spaces every year. That's why I have always supported private university. We need more of them not less. Ghana is smart to see the economic impact of Nigerian students and tap into it.

onomeasike: Jonathan-induced stroke. Nigerians will pray God to kaput all our enemies.Abeg carry your head comot, I want curse pray on nigeria's enemies.

You don kaput yoursel already. No enemies needed. Curse all you want, your days in this country are numbered.

onomeasike: Who is this? Abeg pack joor make I see front. Yesterday they said Jonathan was sleeping with Gold- standard corrupt Stella, while that was sinking, today he is acting Mobutu seseko and you think I should leave this problem-child giving Nigerians heartache since he became C-in-C.

Your Nigeria go carry stroke, just sit and watch.

abokinside: Hope u guys saw Kwakwanso's composure in the pics, sorry to say Gej is messing with the wrong guys. Who ever adviced hom to engage in harassment doesn't like him. Btw since when did it become illigal for tunde, Gambo and Musa to meet and discuss in any part of Nigeria let alone elected govs, Emperor Gej is finally showing his true colours!

His composure reminds me of buhari, the day he was dethroned

Clerverly: With this crude and tactless action, Jonathan has bought himself a mosquito infested room in jail after this his useless and clueless tenure;

Cowards like you always cry like babies. Jona is standing, please take him to your jail. Most of you are just jokers

onomeasike: With this lack of tact, the end of the Jonathan era starts today!!!
Baba tukur has given Jonathan an ant infested log to carry.

O ma se oo

Ewu, bring it on. People are seeking means to terminate your hell call Nigeria.

Dr Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, in this interview, dismisses the claim that his principal has not performed Looking at the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan in the last two years that he has been steering the affairs of the nation, the programmes and projects that he has initiated in the transformation agenda, can you say he has justified the mandate given to him?
The answer is resounding yes. It is not being sycophantic; these are things that we can prove. I have said before and I am saying it again; never in the history of this nation, indeed of Africa including North and South of the Sahara has a president of a country two years after assuming office achieved so much in such a short time. It is unprecedented. Now, what are the things that Jonathan promised?
He promised electoral reform. Anybody in Nigeria will readily concede to him that he has done what he promised he would do in that area. He has also given personal commitment to free and fair election. He sang a song ‘one man one vote, one woman one vote, one youth one vote ’ and that has been the pattern of elections we have seen conducted under his watch.
Okupe: Mind my roar
Okupe
Under his watch, his party has competed in elections and has lost and he has congratulated the winners. He has not used or abused his office or tried to influence the electoral managers in any way. When he said he would deliver on electoral reform and that he was going to improve the electoral system in the country, some people doubted it in view of experiences in our recent past. But now,elections have become more meaningful, the results more acceptable and we are all happy for that.
Topical also on his agenda is power reform. When this administration came about, we were generating about 2,800 MW and it was not steady. What did Jonathan do? Unlike everybody that has preceded him, he attacked the problem head on, intellectually and professionally by putting up a road map. When somebody puts up a road map, you can benchmark him whether he is achieving what he said he will do.
In two years, the power generation has doubled. By the power road map, we are supposed to be producing between 18,000-20,000 MW by 2018 or so. In the sector, there were a couple of challenges. One is power generation. There was also a major problem with the NIPP projects on which the preceding governments spent billions of dollars and they were all moribund and comatose.
It was Goodluck Jonathan’s administration that brought things back and recovered them from total collapse. Now the ten NIPP projects that he inherited at various stages of coma and non-functionality and all that have been completed. Before they we re completed, it was anticipated that there will be major issue with gas supplies because all of them are powered by gas turbines.
So, immediately also Mr President declared emergency in the gas sector and government seriously worked hard to redesign the gas infrastructure, improved and increased the quantum of gas available to these power plants. The gas infrastructure was totally misaligned from the power plants. This took a lot of efforts and a lot of money, but today it is a success story.
That is on the issue of power.Now we then go to the issue of privatization of the power sector. This is something that was started in 2005 and this is 2013; that is eight years. There was no headway, there was no clear-cut direction, no assurance that the project itself would not crash along the way until Goodluck Jonathan came. Because of sincerity of purpose and lack of intention to amass wealth unnecessarily or introduce corruption into the process, Nigeria has recorded one of the largest sectoral privatizations in the world.
It involved a figure of over 3 billion U.S. dollars and it has been done and commended by various international agencies and multilateral organizations that it was done seamlessly and in accordance to the world best practice. A major achievement of this administration is the successful completion of the privatization programme..In the banking sector, which most people also tend to gloss over; before this administration came, the sector was in a collapsible form and there was a lot of financial uncertainty.
The United States of America spent trillions of dollars; Europe spent trillions of dollars and pounds to reform the financial sector, but Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has been able to reform and stabilize our financial sector with minimum cost to government. Today, our banks are like diaspora banks, they are virtually all over Africa and now, they are also invading Europe.
This is because of the fiscal and monetary policies that this administration put in place and the strict adherence to regulations, ensuring that there are no slips. That is why today we have banks that have backbones, banks that are solid, banks that can take part in the financing of mega projects both within and outside Nigeria.
In agriculture, let me give you typical examples. When this administration came, it was difficult to get one kilogramme of cotton seed anywhere in the country. We were importing 5.2million tons of rice yearly. Sorghum and maize production were totally in decline. But what do you have today, two years down the line? Nine out of 18 ginneries that had died in the North have been revitalized.
That means new acreages of cotton farms have been cultivated, we now have large acreages of sorghum also produced in the North and rice also is being produced at a very high rate. And by 2015 we are also likely to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production. The Bank of Agriculture is being totally refocused and repackaged to be able to lend money to farmers at about 5-6% interest rate per annum.
If people go to borrow money in banks at 30 or 35 per cent interest rate there is no agricultural product you will embark on that it will be profitable and that is why farming is difficult in Nigeria, that is why younger people are not going into farming, that is why farming cannot go beyond sustenance level. But if it is possible for you to take loan from a bank and all you are paying is just 5 or 6, even if your total return was 20%, you have about 14% to go home with, which is enough for you and your family to live on. Our export commodities like cocoa, which we used to do about 250,000 metric tons a year, by 2014, that would have doubled to about 500,000 metric tons in one year.
On transportation, for over two decades, the railway system was paralyzed. In two years, what do we have? The major axial rail transport highways, Lagos-Kano, about 1,300 kilometers have been totally refurbished and the volume of passengers have grown to about a million passengers per day. I’m aware . In terms of road, many roads that have been previously abandoned before this administration came in: the Lagos-Benin road or Shagamu-Ore as they call it, totally impassible.
Various segments of the road have been reconstructed and it is now almost perfectly done with money from SURE-P. Now, the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road is more than 50% done. This is supposed to be completed in 2014. The East-West Road is now nearing 60% completion and, of recent, Mr. President went and kicked off the refurbishing and the redesigning of the new, befitting express road from Lagos to Ibadan. This is not to talk about the Kano-Maiduguri road and the second Niger Bridge.
When you come to the economy, it is something that one has to be proud of that we have one of the highest growth rates in the world; I think we are second or third to China and maybe another country. Definitely, we are the first in Africa.
Let me just take you up on the issue of insecurity because people have been saying that it should have been one of the primary challenges that he should have confronted headlong. But the security situation has not improved much.
What barometers are you using to judge that the security situation has not been improved? When Boko Haram insurgency started, it engulfed eleven states in the federation. Today, as I am talking to you, Boko Haram activities are restricted to only two states of the federation; Yobe, which is more recent, and Borno. That in itself is a major breakthrough.
I have read history and I have read issues concerning insurgency world-wide and I am telling you, there is nowhere in the whole world and in world history from British IRA to Vietnam, to Tamil Tigers to Malaysia to even the Maghreb and Somalia; there is nowhere in the world where insurgency has been contained so rapidly. I am telling you, it is like the power of God that is working in this country.
It is unbelievable that all these things can be packaged in two years. It is absolutely unimaginable, from eleven states, it has reduced to two, from every Sunday, it has now reduced to once in a while. Unfortunately, it is still devastating but that is the nature of insurgencies. So, it is not correct to say insecurity is not controlled. Insecurity has been seriously curtailed.
If you compare these figures of economic growth with rising unemployment and worsening poverty, can you justify your conclusion of sterling performance in the economy?
Social economy is a dynamic thing. Ten years ago, our population was not 165million. Ten years ago, our intake to schools and universities and graduates that are coming out are not the same. Nigeria grows at an average birth rate of about 3-3.5% per annum. What am I trying to tell you? That means in ten years, we are increasing by about 35%. So, if you say that ten years ago, we were about 140million, or graduate production was say, 100,000; today, it is a different thing, that means it is 135,000.
There is a dynamism, things are not static and we are coming from an economy that was moribund, that was not working, so, there is bound to appear some increase. It is a false increase, it is an increase that is brought about from years of malfunctioning of the system. As far as this administration is concerned, this government is doing a lot in terms of generation of employment.
Let me also tell you, it is not something that is extremely desirable, youth unemployment today is almost a global phenomenon because whether you like it or not, most economies in the world are just emerging and they have not even really reached there yet. I heard the IMF President, Christiane Largarde said recently that the world is in a situation of economic transition.
We are not there yet, Nigeria cannot be different but I can say that we are different in the sense that we are doing better than most African countries. Our growth rate is better than Japan, America, Britain, and if you also now look at our debt to GDP ratio, is definitely better than any of those, including South Africa. We are not near them at all, we are doing much better, all we need in this country is to follow the leader, support the government. For the first time we have a government that is visionary, that has set for itself goals and it is achieving them. We just need some degree of patience; we are going to get there.
You have tried to put the security situation front in perspective, can you also do that for this other related security issue of oil theft?
Oil theft is another major challenge that this administration is facing. The dimension at which it is now is something surely worrisome but that too is being tackled. If you look at it, it is a complex interplay. I was at Chatham House some two weeks ago because they wrote a report on oil theft in Nigeria. I met the editor of that write-up and they themselves explained that it is such a complex thing that it will require the cooperation of both the local authorities, the business community and the western world.
It is not just a Nigerian affair. But I believe that government is challenging it, I am aware. I saw the M.D. of the NNPC the other day, saying that they have acquired about twenty-three vessels to combat this. The Navy, also have acquired some vessels and on a daily basis, oil thieves are being caught. It is another challenge but we will get over it. It is a very serious challenge, I am not undermining it and we are going to get over it.
Are you aware of the perception that that problem has been made even more complex by the fact that there has been a kind of lack of will on the part of the president because of maybe where it is happening?
There are various sentiments in Nigeria. We have in Nigeria a very powerful and vociferous opposition who will hang anything on the President. If the wind is not blowing on Bar Beach, it must have been caused by some policies that Jonathan did or did not do. We have just given you a catalog of the achievements of this administration under the leadership of this gentleman.
This obviously is a man that is desirous of achieving results. How can you achieve results without money? This is something that I know personally that bleeds his heart. You set for yourself goals that you want to achieve and you have been doing so well, now, this phenomenon crops in and they say there is lack of will. Which will? Is it the will to perform or the will to harm yourself and your name? This is a Nigerian syndrome and we are so used to it that we are unperturbed and undisturbed by such innuendoes. The president is focused, he will deliver what he says he will deliver and I am sure that like Boko Haram, like insurgency, this issu
e of oil theft will also be dealt with.
Do you feel that the administration is fulfilling the promises made by the president?
I am so proud of being part and parcel of this administration and when I say that, I say it with all sense of responsibility. I have been around for a while, I have been in the political scene for over thirty years. I have been around corridors of power for some decades and I am telling you that this is still the best of times in my own assessment.
On the National Dialogue the president is organising, I was wondering, what is the imperative of this undertaking at a time when he has so much on his plate and General Election is just another year away?
That is what I hate to hear, that election is just another year away. Does Nigeria exist just because of election? Was Nigeria amalgamated in 1914 because an election was coming? What is the purpose of conducting an election and putting people in offices and they are unable to perform or that the system works against them. How can people perform when the elites have not united or agreed to be a nation?
This is just the desperate ploy of politicians who think that all that is important is to do an election, to win an office, whether I am able to perform or not, if I am able to get some money, good luck to me. Nigeria is much more than that. The interest of Nigeria is by far more than the political process itself and it is almost a devilish proposition for people to say that when an election is just around the corner, what election?
The situation in the country today is so lopsided and people continue to clamor. We cannot move no matter the intention, no matter the zeal of the leader, if we are not in whole. A car that the back tire is not there, the boot is falling, whether the engine is good or not, can that car move? The car cannot move no matter the dexterity of the driver or the perfection of the engine with which it is working. The various parts of this country today, it is only the greatest liar of all time who will say that most parts of the country today are okay. They are not. So, the issue of election has nothing to do with the confab and there is no better time than now to have this confab.
Let us dialogue, let us see how far we can go. Rome was not built in a day. Maybe this confab will move us so far. We are moving. A nation has an indeterminate lifetime. Nigeria is not going to end tomorrow or in 2015. Do not listen to these politicians who tell you election is just next tear as if 2015 is the most important year. 2015 will come and go just like 1999 came and went, just like 1960 came and went. However, Nigeria must remain, but we are concerned about what type of Nigeria we allow to remain for our people.

www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/jonathan-keeping-faith-nigerians

Imo Roads have become death traps and erosion sites
Man, from time immemorial, is itinerant by nature. If he is not driven by commerce, he is moved by the quest for greener pastures or marriage. To actualize this quest, the most commonly used means of movement is the road, which carries the bulk of commuters on a daily basis.
Road is so important to any nation’s economic life and that is probably why the egg heads that put together the 1999 Nigerian Constitution opted to place it in the concurrent list with a view to allowing the three levels of government to legislate on it.

The irony is that despite this constitutional provision, most Nigerian roads, particularly in the South East geo-political zone of the country, have since become death traps since after the Nigeria/Biafra war, which ended in 1970. These roads are as difficult to motorists as it is to pedestrians!
The precarious state of these roads is sadly multiplied in geometric proportion by threatening gully erosions that dot most communities in the South East. In Imo State for example, there are over 500 identified erosion sites that are begging for serious attention.

COMMUNITIES COMPLAIN
Writing on why Ogwa is so neglected by every government in Imo State, Mr. Samuel E. Nwanjoku said the major problem confronting Ogwa people today is a matter of road network.
“There is no road in any part of Ogwa in general. This is not a fairy tale. Ogwa has many a time been declared a disaster area because of bad roads and gully erosion in various parts of Ogwa”, Nwanjoku lamented.
The aggrieved villager lamented that it was during the Ohakim era that the Iho-Ogwa-Orodo road was re-awarded to another contractor after several failures from previous contracting firms.
“The tarring of the road started at Iho junction but terminated a few poles after Iho Comprehensive Secondary School. The rest of the road from that point to Ogwa and then to Orodo, through Idem Ogwa, was left untarred with attendant problems of flood and erosion in many sections of the road”, Nwanjoku said. Continuing, the man fumed that one cannot imagine any part of the state that its roads are as bad as that of Ogwa in Mbaitoli local government area. He then wondered if Ogwa is part of Imo State.
For the greater part of this year, people from communities situated along the usually busy Naze-Nekede-Ihiagwa-Obinze road passed through harrowing times occasioned by awful road. Two federal tertiary institutions, Federal Polytechnic, Nekede and Federal University of Technology, are located along this road.
This road was so horrible that even pedestrians found it difficult to use it. Vehicles broke down with ease on this road. Other got stuck in the muddy water It was never an unusual sight as elegantly dressed artisans, students and workers were often ordered out of vehicles in the middle of the brownish swamp and irrespective of the depth of the smelly stagnant water.
Only recently, Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, declared a state of emergency on this road, describing it as “worse than hell fire”. Okorocha, who made the declaration when he paid on-the-spot assessment of the badly deteriorated road, equally confirmed that he had received several complaints about the bad state of the road.
“I have received several complaints about the bad state of this road. Honestly, I never envisaged that it was as bad as what I am seeing now. It is worse than hell fire”, Okorocha said.
He assured the people that trooped out to welcome him at Nkwo Ukwu Ihiagwa market square that the contractor must start work on the road as soon as the rains stop. “I assure you that the contractor will resume work on this very important road as soon as the rains stop.
The suffering of the people of this area must stop”, Okorocha said. He however warned that people must be prepared to make some sacrifice, pointing out that those whose stores, kiosks or buildings were built along the way, which equally obstructed free flow of flood water, will be demolished in the process.
The Governor also warned the people to also resist the temptation of building their houses close to the major roads, adding that such development impedes expansion of the road whenever government was ready to do so.

www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/abandoned-projects

Erasmus Ikhide

Senior Special Assistant Media Affairs at Edo State Government
SA Media at Special Adviser (Media Affairs) to Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the State of Osun