Abia State governor Dr Okezie Ikpeazu in what appears to be calling the bluff of the FG has directed the state ministry of works to mobilize Pumeco Construction Company to move to the failed portion of Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road and fix it from Wednesday with or without the approval of the federal government.
Recall that the bad state of the federal road which leads to the prestigious Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike has remained a nightmare to commuters who ply the road.
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Just on Sunday, a report filtered the air that one Miss Chidinma Ogbonna, a final year student of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management of the University died as a result of bad state of the road.
According to a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu which was made available to ABN TV, the governor had last week directed the Commissioner for Works, Elder Bob Ogu mobilise contractor to the site after receiving reports on the terrible state of the federal road.
After accessing state of the road, the Commissioner informed the governor that a written permission is required from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing before the state can commence any repair work, as the said road has already been awarded by the federal government and handed over to the contractors who are citing inadequate funding for their refusal to commence work.
Chief Okiyi Kalu stated further, “At that point, the Governor was really furious and asked: “is there a deliberate plan to totally destroy trade and commerce in this state and punish our people?” He recalled that the federal government also awarded Aba-Ikot Ekpene Highway since 2017 and could not do any effective work on it for so long up to this year to the extent that the state government had to commence reconstruction of the road from Opobo Junction, Aba, area using rigid pavement (cement) technology.
“Aside from Aba-Ikot Ekpene and Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Federal Highways that are in terrible conditions, other federal roads leading to our major commercial and agricultural hubs such as Abe-Port Harcourt Segment of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway, Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Ohafia Road, Arochukwu-Ohafia-Bende Road etc, are death traps that cannot, by any standard, be described as roads.”
According to the Commissioner for Information, most painful part is that the affected roads are the major roads leading to the centres of trade, commerce and agriculture in the state, insisting that they are the mainstay of the people.
According to the Commissioner, visitors to the state form opinions about the state based on the poor state of these federal roads, adding that until they are fixed it will remain difficult to appreciate the work the Ikpeazu-led administration has done to renew infrastructure in Abia since 2015.
He also recalled how the Federal Government allegedly frustrated efforts by the state to fix the Osisioma-NNPC Depot Federal Road in Aba, some years back and refused to act on it afterwards.
“Abia State Government moved to fix the Osisioma-NNPC Depot Road in Aba, belonging to the federal government, two years ago and after working on more than 1km of the road the federal ministry of works sent a letter directing the Abia State government to leave the federal road which they claimed to have been awarded for reconstruction.
“Two years down the line, absolutely nothing has been done as the federal contractor claims he is yet to be funded. Our appeal to allow us to fix the key road for a future refund fell on deaf ears.”
The Governor according to the Commissioner expresses sympathy over the death of the student, saying the government is in solidarity with MOUAU students who have protested death of their colleague.
“In addition, the Governor expresses his personal condolences and that of the good people of Abia State to the bereaved family, students and staff of the university over the sad and unfortunate incident.
“Abia state Government is in solidarity with the students who protested earlier today and wishes to assure them that help is on the way. Aside from the palliative work we are commencing this Wednesday, we will engage the federal ministry of works on the need to fund road projects in our state or allow us to work on those roads already tied with federal contracts.
“For now, we are moving in and hope to do more for our people as the rains abate” the Commissioner added.
