Bad road: Six Ebonyi communities cut off …Natives say it has been neglected for 40 years

For the people of Nkalagu, Nkalaha, Amazu, Umuhuali, Obegu, Egedegede communities in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, this is a period of temporary relief.

The rainy season makes their heart  beat fast because of the deplorable state of their roads.

During the rainy season they had cried out to the Federal Government  to rescue them from the pitiable, deplorable, and horrible federal road in  their communities.

Indeed, plying through Nkalagu Nigercem Cement factory road or going through Eha-Amufu Federal College of Education in Isi-uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State is a nightmare for all road users, especially when it rains.

Thus the road has brought untold hardship to the people of the host communities of the moribund Nigercem Company for so many years now even as the road keeps on deteriorating every year.

The road which goes from Nsukka through Obollo, Ikem and Eha-Amufu in Enugu State to Nkalagu in Ebonyi State has been there since the colonial years. The road links  three states namely Enugu, Ebonyi and Benue, a route used during the civil war.

But since after the civil war, the road has not been rehabilitated even when it has been included in the federal budget every year, yet along the road is where the Federal College of Education Eha-Amufu and the moribund Nigeria Premier Cement Industry, Nigercem, factory Nkalagu are located.

A native of Nkalagu community, Chief Chukwuma Ede, said a natural disaster may occur if the Ebonyi River overflows its banks as a result of uncontrolled flood flowing into it.

He noted that on many occasions commuters were kept on the road for days because of collapsed bridges.

“At the Umuhuali area, a rigorous diversion has been created through the village track road in order to beat collapsed culverts and bridges. This diversion does not take two vehicles coming from opposite directions,” he said.

Ede said that the Federal Government has forgotten their area, saying “what can we benefit from the government if not to rehabilitate this road, this place in the 80s was very viable, our cement factory was producing; so many people were coming to this place for one business or the other, trucks were either bringing coals to the Nigercem or carrying out cement.”

But today, he said: “I don’t know it is because of the road that made the cement company to collapse. We are farmers, we can’t even carry our farm produce to the market; in short, we are just living for nothing, there is no life here, government should come to our aid by rehabilitating this road, for years this road has been enshrined in the budget but to no avail, there is money, I mean enough money to even construct more roads. Is it when the people of this area who have been cut-off with their brothers and sisters are gone that the road would be rehabilitated?

Also narrating her experience on the road, Ngozi Ndukwe, a student of the Federal College of Education, Eha-Amufu, said that both the students and lecturers have suffered on the road especially from Nkalagu to Eha-Afumu which is worse.

According to her, “no season is good for this road, is it rainy or dry season?, I could remember the day I was coming back to school to resume for a semester  last two months  and our vehicle was trapped in the mud  from morning till evening no help and I had loads which I had to leave and entered one Okada and the rider happened to be a robber. On reaching half way he stopped and collected everything I had including my school fees; it was a terrible experience on this road”.

She said that during the dry season dust would be the order of the day, saying “I used to take malaria drug every week due to the level of dust I swallow on this road, any time you pass this road your cloth will turn to brown, you don’t even dare to wear white cloth after wearing it that day, it will be condemned, the depth of potholes on this road is something else. Government should do something over this road or take the school out of this place. At times I begin to ask myself whether it’s not the same school other students are going in other states of the federation; we suffer so much along this road”.

Also a civil servant, Mr Chinyere Orinya from Obegu, noted that the road has cut-off the people of the area from their brothers in Umuhala and Nkalugu due the collapse of the bridge and deplorable situation of the road especially during the rainy season.

According to her, “some of us who have cars have parked them due to the bad road; we cannot cross over again because of the collapse of the bridge. It is when you get to the bridge with bike some boys who collect money will guard you through the river over the other side of the road where you now pick another bike to your house. In short, we are suffering along this road; the Federal Government should help us to rehabilitate the road”.

The governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Martin Elechi in several occasions had lamented over the collapse of the bridge along the road that has caused serious hardship to the people of the area.

He said that the state government would have reconstructed another bridge if not for the meager allocation accruing to the state.

The Chairman of Ishielu Local Government Area then, Hon. Obinna Nwachukwu wondered why the road had been abandoned over the years despite the award of the road contract to an unknown contractor.

He called on the Federal Government to expedite action on awarding the road contract to a reputable company, saying that the road has been a death trap to the people of the area over the years.

His words: “I don’t know why that road has defiled every effort, because from time to time they keep on telling us that the road has been awarded and to prove them right in most cases, you see people bringing in equipment to the road. The company won’t last more than two, three, four months they will disappear from the road and when you make inquiries you will discover that they have mobilized to site to do the road and it has continued, it not a new development.

“But the most recent one is when it was established that the road had been awarded and actually noticed contractors on site but then they started from Obollo Afor in Enugu State  and we believed they were coming down to our side but along the line, they disappeared like every other person. The worst part of it before they disappeared they destroyed the road the more because their heavy equipment which were passing to go and carry chippings and stones helped to destroy the road.

“They broke down the bridges; for example, they broke down bridge at Egedegede and Amazu and efforts to get them repair the bridge proved abortive, and it became a problem. At a time I led a delegation from Ishielu to the governor about the road and governor was feeling as bad as we are feeling. He promised to put the road in good condition not minding the meager resources at least to ensure that the road is passable.

“And he was working for it until we discovered that there was a letter from the Federal Government which said that no governor should intervene in Federal Government contract without express approval from the Federal Ministry of Works and that actually handicapped him, we know that there are number of some federal roads he had done and up till now the state has not been refunded.

“The road is becoming a death trap for road users, ordinarily the road is supposed to be the shortest road from Ebonyi to Abuja. The distance from Nkalagu junction to Obollo Afor is shorter than the distance from Nkalagu to 19th Mile in Enugu before you begin to do a cross country from 9th Mile to Obollo Afor before going to Abuja. At a time I asked myself, is the road a punishment for the state because a journey that will ordinarily take you five hours to Abuja will take you over six hours, when you are supposed be hitting Kogi State, you are still battling with Enugu State, so it is really a problem to us.

“We tried as much as our power can carry to ensure that the road is rehabilitated but it is not possible.  I want to plead with the Federal Government to look into that road because it is really a problem. This is a road that houses Ebonyi, Enugu and partially Kogi and Benue states and if it is attended to I believe it will help us and relieve us of suffering and pains. I also plead with the Federal Government that if for any reason the contractor is not ready to do the job, they should consider revoking the contract and giving it to a reputable company that has a name, because the problem is that all the time they said the contract had been awarded the company doesn’t have a name, we don’t really know which company is doing the job.

“If they said that Federal Government awarded contract we should know the name of the company. For instance, the federal road from Enugu to Abakaliki that was awarded to a reputable company, Setraco, everybody knows the company and the company was working to maintain its name, not when people go from the backyard to collect contract paper and collect the money, the name of the company is not known to anybody, who is handling the job is not known to anybody.

“They will touch the side and even make the road worst. I’m pleading with the Federal Government that, that road is very important to Ebonyi and Enugu and to other road users and most importantly to Ishielu and Isi-uzo local government areas. I’m pleading with the Federal Government that they should listen to the cry of the state governor and cries of road users in Ishielu and Isi-uzo to see what they can do to bring the contractor back to the site or if he is not willing to deliver the contract, it should be revoked and be given to a reputable company.

“We have jointly between Ishielu and Isi-uzo made complaints to the Federal Ministry of Works; we plead with the National Assembly members to come to our aid. The Chairman House Committee on Works and Chairman Senate Committee on Works incidentally are from Enugu State, they should look inwards to see how they can ameliorate the suffering of the people.

“The President believes in equity, fairness and justice, this road has been like this for years. We are concerned because our brothers and sisters are living there; we have a big cement factory along the road, the state is interested on how to revitalize the cement company to be viable again.”

Also, the member representing Ishielu North in the state House of Assembly, Hon. Anthony Ikechukwu Ogbu while reacting on the state of the road said that the road is a death trap and condemned the neglect of the road by the Federal Ministry of Works.

“The road is a death trap from time immemorial, but the situation now is highly pitiable because the road is not worth what one can describe except you can go there and see. It is full of gullies, people of Nkalagu and Isi-uzo can’t even pass through that road.  I want to call on the Federal Government especially the Federal Ministry of Works to look into the road and try to help the people by constructing the road. It is not something a lawmaker can do by constructing the road, if it is what a lawmaker can do, on my own I would have constructed the road for the people but it is beyond me and that is why I’m calling on the Federal Government to come to our aid.

“My advice to the Federal Government is not a matter of awarding a contract to individuals, organizations, companies, it is a matter of following it up, making sure they do it, inspecting the job because most times when you give people contracts and you don’t follow it up they intend to abandon them. So much as they know you don’t have much interest on that particular job they will start it as if they are going to do the job but along the line they will stop the job. They should follow the contract up not only awarding the contract. The House Committee Chairman on Works and Senate Committee Chairman on Works are from Enugu State, a neighbouring state with similar problem, they should make sure that the award of the road contract is done,” he said.

The Mife Construction Limited that was awarded the project in 2010 and had completed work on the part of Ikem to Obollo road but did not touch the road from the other part of Ikem, Ehamufu in Isi-uzo LGA in Enugu to Nkalagu in Ebonyi.

The Project Manager of the company told Oriental News that the company had since completed work as awarded to it which started from Ikem in Isi-uzo LGA to Nsukka in Enugu State, saying that the other part of the road was not awarded to the company.

 Written by Jeff Amechi Agbodo for The Sun