Anguish on South-East roads
The federal roads linking Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Abakaliki as well as Enugu-Umuahia-Aba-Port Harcourt in Rivers State are, to say the least, in most pitiful conditions. On daily basis, good chunks of the roads continue to erode as the rains persist. Travelers usually tell incredible sorry tales after driving on the roads, which many now regard as […]
The federal roads linking Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Abakaliki as well as Enugu-Umuahia-Aba-Port Harcourt in Rivers State are, to say the least, in most pitiful conditions. On daily basis, good chunks of the roads continue to erode as the rains persist. Travelers usually tell incredible sorry tales after driving on the roads, which many now regard as death traps.
But President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent visit to Anambra State where he commissioned some government and private projects reportedly got millions of Anambra people grossly disappointed. Why were they disappointed? The President flew into the state in helicopter instead of coming by road to have a personal experience of the deplorable conditions of the Enugu-Onitsha highways, the people said.
The President’s visit, all the same, took a toll on the economic and business activities in the state especially Onitsha where markets were closed and movements restricted. A traders’ leader, Chief Sylvester Odife wished that Jonathan had come into the state through Enugu Airport by road in order for him to experience “the harrowing state of the federal road that runs through the state.”
Chidi Umeh, a trader at Onitsha Main Market, said if Jonathan had visited by road he would need no adviser to give him the true situation of the Enugu-Onitsha road.
Angela Nnoli, a beautician at Upper Iweka, Onitsha, said the people were disappointed that Jonathan, who they all voted for last year, has failed to address their pressing issues of bad roads and electricity. “When next he comes around, he should be bold and courageous enough to pass through the roads,” she said.
The bad conditions of most of these roads create the impression that the government of the day is either being insincere in keeping with campaign promises made to the people of the zone, or not living up to expectations. Some portions of the roads have collapsed totally over the years and the situation, no doubt, questions the responsiveness or otherwise of the current President Goodluck Jonathan-led federal government.
A journey between Enugu and Port-Harcourt which, normally, should not last more than four hours, now takes six to seven hours. And the reason is simple: The road, which is about 300 km, is now a mere red-earth highway with incredible craters and eye-popping gullies. This road links the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones of Nigeria where the electorate voted en mass for President Jonathan in the 2011 Presidential election. Now, the ordeal of most travellers on the roads is best imagined than experienced.
Similarly, travelling on the Onitsha-Enugu or through Enugu-Abakaliki highway is as stressful and painful as passing through the valley of the shadow of death, according to some motorists and stakeholders in the zone, who added that goods worth millions and lives have been lost to the bad roads.
The terrible state of the roads even becomes more worrisome on realizing that the Enugu-Umuahia-Aba-Port Harcourt road also links Bayelsa, the home state of President Jonathan with Abia, Imo, and part of Ebonyi State.
Now worried by the pitiful state of the Enugu-Port Harcourt federal highway, road transporters on the platform of Drivers Welfare Association in Abia State have threatened to embark on warning strike during the festive month of December this year, should the federal government fail to take drastic action to fix the road.
The angry transporters expressed disgust over the current effort of the government to rehabilitate the bad portions of the road. They said the entire stretch of the dual-carriage way should be reconstructed to enable it last and reduce the sufferings being experienced by the southeasterners, who they said, are major users of the road
Chairman of the Drivers Welfare Association, who also is the Chairman of the Abia State branch of the Road Transport Association of Nigeria, Comrade Nnamdi Balogu warned that the failure of the federal government to reconstruct the road would cause mass withdrawal of vehicles from the road in December.
Balogu said the Chairmen of the association in Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers States, had a crucial meeting on August 16, 2012 where they reviewed the situation and thereafter petitioned President Jonathan. The association said it gave the federal government December 2012 ultimatum within which the members will pull out their vehicles from plying the bad roads.
Enumerating the losses of lives caused by the bad roads, the union executives insisted they would resist any further neglect of the roads by the federal government. They threatened to ground all vehicular movements come January 1, 2013 if the government did not repair the roads. Similar warning letter was also dispatched to the Transport Minister, informing him of the union’s intention ahead of January 2013.
According to Balogu, the crucial meeting was attended by Ozoalor Emeka (Enugu), Uche Duru (Imo), Opara Ibe (Anambra), Sunday Nduka Nwoke (Ebonyi), Nnamdi Balogu (Abia) and Sunday Alonge (Rivers).
Our reporter was reliably informed that part of the reasons the roads are in such terrible state is the needless delay or outright refusal of the federal government to disburse sufficient funds with which to execute the rehabilitation of the roads.
Sunday Trust learnt from a reliable source in the National Assembly that the federal government has so far released a mobilization fee of more than N1 billion to the contractor handling the Enugu-Port Harcourt express road, although the source added that the government is also “considering the Public Private Partnership arrangement.”
It was gathered that even the Second Niger Bridge project which has gradually become a ‘campaign slogan’ for politicians seeking votes from the southeast zone, is equally not receiving due attention of government authorities. “The contract for the feasibility study of the second Niger Bridge was awarded and N325 million has been released so far,” the source said.
According to the insider, in six months, the actual contract for the Onitsha bridge would be awarded, although N78 billion has been earmarked for the project in the 2012 budget but no money has been released from it so far.
Some major stakeholders in the southeast zone hold that Jonathan has not kept his electoral promise to give the South East a face-lift. Some were categorical in declaring that the president has “breached” the agreement he purportedly entered with the people of the zone through the Igbo apex socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, before the 2011 presidential election.
The Chairman, Pro-Democracy Movement, Southeast zone, who is also National Chairman of the Movement for National Reconciliation (MNR) Chief Chris Echukwu said the Igbo are outsiders in the scheme of things presently in the country. He added that the people of the zone have never had it so bad since the history of the country’s democracy.
“When you consider the allocations coming to the southeast and the distribution of projects like roads, there is nowhere in the country you find the nature of roads you find in the eastern Nigeria,” said Chief Echukwu.
According to him, “The presence of the contractors on these roads creates serious danger to the road users as they block some lanes of the roads without notice while armed miscreants use such barricades for robbery. They should be checked.” He said Jonathan still has time to make amends and bring the Igbos into the scheme of things.
On the contractors handling the roads, Echukwu said, “I don’t know whether they are given the contract to do reconstruction or repair works. It is usually patching of the roads here and there, which is usually dangerous.”
“I want to agree with you that the worst roads in this country are in the South East. Try moving from Enugu to Port Harcourt; try moving from Onitsha to Enugu; try moving from Enugu to Abakaliki; try moving from Aba to Ikot-Ekpene; these are areas anybody can try and you will agree with what I am saying,” The former President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Dozie Ikedife said in a telephone interview.
He further said, “This is the peak of rainy season, often we are told when the rain goes; but when the rain goes nothing happens, when the rain comes nothing happens. I am expecting that as soon as it is October, we should see serious continuous repair works on the roads. If that doesn’t happen, then we can say Jonathan has failed on the score of roads.”
But he also believes that the level of distraction and challenges the Jonathan-led administration has had to grapple with, equally contributed to the delays of the federal government in handling the rehabilitation of federal roads in the zone.
“Frankly speaking I will tell you that people have been criticizing him but I find it difficult to criticize him. One, you must know that the man is embattled, distracted, even threatened. Two, he hasn’t got the composure to do all that he should do or for him to remember all the promises he made,” said Ikedife, who quickly added, “The Boko Haram is an issue that is disturbing many thinking Nigerians and periodically here the threat of initiating even impeachment procedure…You know some people are not happy that a man from a minority area is president of this country; people who have not been ruling, so they are trying to distract him as much as possible.”
The South-East zonal Director of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) Barrister Olu Omotayo, in his comment on the condition of the roads, said it is no longer news that the condition of the road network in the southeast is the worst in the country, but that what calls for concern now is “ the insensitivity of the federal government to the sufferings of the people of this zone as a result of bad road networks linking almost all the southeastern states.”
Omotayo declared, “The Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway has now become a death trap and no effort whatsoever is being made by the federal government to put this road in order. Enugu-Abakaliki express road is also in a terrible state of disrepair while Onitsha-Enugu expressway is not an exception as the rehabilitation of the road which commenced some years back has been going on at snail speed.”
Wondering whether the zone has been excluded from the rest of the country, Omotayo appealed to the Federal Government to urgently commence action on these roads, particularly the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway which is “currently in a dangerous state.”
He also called on the members of the National Assembly representing the people of the zone to put up a spirited effort towards ensuring that urgent action is taken towards repairing the roads.
The Director General, Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Mr Emeka Okereke bemoaned the fact that after a decade, the rehabilitations of Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt highways which the former President Olusegun Obasanjo started, have not seen any tangible progress.
Describing the situation as “very sad”, the ECCIMA D-G decried the bad state of the roads as affecting the socio-economic activities in the zone adversely. “Over N2 billion has been lost in goods in transit because of accidents caused by bad roads, not to talk of the many lives lost,” said Okereke, who added, “We heard during 2012 budget presentation, that huge funds had been earmarked for the road projects, but we have seen nothing; we don’t know if the funds have developed wings and flew away.”
Okereke believes quite strongly that the Federal Government, not Jonathan actually, has been unfair to the zone in terms of roads and other projects, but he quickly added, “Jonathan can’t be exonerated.”
The ECCIMA D-G said the business class in the zone, and indeed the entire people of the area are not comfortable with President Jonathan’s idea of using Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement in executing the road projects. “We wonder why the FG should experiment PPP in Igboland. The Second Niger Bridge shouldn’t be done on PPP deal because no other bridge has been done under such arrangement,” he said.
According to him, “Onitsha Bridge built in 1965 is about collapsing and the bridge is slowing down the economy of the zone. It is our prayer that Jonathan will redress the neglect of infrastructure in the southeast.”
However, during his recent visit to Anambra, President Jonathan asked Nigerians to begin to expect the fulfillment of his campaign promises by next year. He said, “By next year, most of our campaign promises will begin to manifest.”
President Jonathan also told his audience at Onitsha, “I want to promise you that we will change things to ensure that the private sector thrives.” He said the federal government’s desire to boost private sector investment informed its inclusion of some state governors such as Peter Obi of Anambra State as well as Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state and members of the private sector in the National Economic team.
On September 2, 2012, less than two weeks after Jonathan’s visit, he quickly sent the Minister of State for Works, Ambassar Bashir Yuguda for an on-the-spot assessment of the ongoing rehabilitation of roads in the zone. Specifically, Yuguda inspected the Enugu-Onitsha highway, the Ekulu River Bridge, Emene, along Enugu-Abakaliki highway, and the Enugu-Port Harcourt road which he inspected the following day, September 3.
Yuguda said the Federal Government has so far paid N7 billion to the construction company handling the rehabilitation of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, and re-assured the people of the South-East zone of its determination to complete all the ongoing road rehabilitation projects in the area.
The minister said the government was not indebted to the contractor, having paid all the money. But he quickly appealed to the people of the zone to be patient with government as it was working hard to complete the project by December 2013. The minister’s two-day visit was to assess the state of the roads and evaluate the performance of the road contractors handling the rehabilitation projects on both Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt highways.
Sunday Trust learnt that the pitiable state of the roads said to be grossly neglected and abandoned over the years by previous administrations, had generated heated debates in the area and the people of the zone see the issue as part of their marginalization.
Yuguda told journalists after inspecting the Enugu-Onitsha expressway being rehabilitated by Nigercat Construction Company and CCC Construction Company that the president was committed to completing all the road projects the government awarded in the zone. He added that necessary funds had been provided for the completion of the projects.
The minister said government was not happy about the deplorable state of these roads particularly the Enugu-Onitsha expressway and the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway which had become very bad.
According to him, bad weather had been the major challenge to the completion of the rehabilitation projects but he assured that with the rainy season coming to an end, the tempo of work on the roads would be accelerated in order to complete the projects by December 2013 deadline.
Yuguda said, “The Enugu-Onitsha expressway is strategic to all Nigerians but we are making progress in the rehabilitation. If you are driving to Upper Iweka near the River Niger Bridge you will see the level of expansion we have made. The major challenge on this road is being addressed. The contractors had been paid and we expect them to deliver.”
The minister, who inspected the erosion control work around the Boromeo, Nkpor area of Onitsha, the Head Bridge area in Anambra State as well as the Ezeagu axis of the road where an erosion control project was ongoing, down to the Onyeama Hills at the 9th Mile Corner, Enugu, expressed satisfaction with the progress of work in those areas. But he charged the contractors to double their speed on the road projects in order to meet the contract terms.
“We have challenges on the other section of the road, but we can assure you that the other lane being worked upon is on course and you can see the progress we are making. The contractor is on site; we are being hampered by the weather, but we are trying our best under the circumstances.
“You remember that last week the president was in Anambra State to commission some big projects and he saw the condition of the roads. We are happy that the project is on course on the road. This road is very critical to our nation and it is being funded,” according to the minister.
Commenting on the situation of the Enugu-Umuahia-Aba-Port Harcourt highway, Ambassador Yuguda said “We are using FERMA and we have taken the project right from Bonny Port all the way to Kaduna. By the time they get to Enugu through 9th Mile, via Ogbollor Afor right to Benue State; from there it will connect to Abuja, from there it will connect to Kaduna and that is what we are trying to do.”
On the congestion at the Aba axis of the road, the minister said, “We are appealing to people to give us all the cooperation needed especially in Aba. The market is right on the road; we drive away the kind of congestion that we have just witnessed here and we believe we will do well by the time we get through all these.”
He further explained, “Our duty is to maintain the roads and it is now left for the local government to collaborate with us to decongest the city. But the most important thing is to decongest the road network and repair the infrastructure. Definitely, there is need to decongest Aba.”
According to Yuguda, “We have earmarked N18 billion for this axis, from Enugu to Port Harcourt to Kogi for complete rehabilitation. Of course this one is a palliative measure but the total work is going to be funded by the budget funds and the subsidy funds very, very soon.”