Six months after erosion damaged a federal road in Akwa Ibom, nothing concrete has been done to fix it, writes Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo
It is a Trunk A federal road linking Oron, Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and Aba to Lagos. The site, however, looks more now like a refuse dump, but it is part of the Oron road that was cut into two some six months ago in Akwa Ibom State, when gully erosion wreaked havoc last July.
It was as if the state was gradually being cut off from the rest of the world. The gully submerged one residential building. While other houses around the area were lucky to survive the wind that accompanied the devastation, Emmanuel Edem’s house was not; his house was submerged.
Edem said he had gone for his mother’s funeral when neighbours sent him a distress message.
The residents of the area are sad that despite the magnitude of the incident, the Akwa Ibom State government has not put the road back to shape.
As at the time Niger Delta Report visited, Oron road was still blocked from both ends with majority of the motorists passing other adjoining roads, such as the Stadium Road and others with inherent congestion and traffic snarl.
Oron road is a Federal Trunk A road, but the thinking of many residents of the area is that the state government could as well intervene the same way it is doing on other federal roads in the state.
One of the directors at the Ministry of Transport, who did not share in the sentiment of the people and preferred anonymity, said the people of Oron should be thankful to Governor Godswill Akpabio for the little efforts geared towards bringing the road back to normal.
He explained that as a governor that shared in the feeling of the people, immediately the incident occurred, the state government drafted Stemco Construction Company handling road projects in the area to undertake preliminary intervention measures to stall further damage.
His words: “What else do you want the government to do? The road is still under construction. It is not government that asked the people to be dumping refuse on the road. The road will be completed at the appropriate time because the government is even doing the people favour because the road is a federal road that links from Oron beach-Uyo-Ikot Ekpene-Aba-Lagos.”
One of the residents of the area, Emmanuel Asuquo, expressed concerns that a road of that significance was being allowed to stay that long with nothing done by the government to remedy it.
Asuquo faulted the excuse that because Oron road is a federal road, the people should be thankful to the government for the little efforts on the road. He said such reason would not be acceptable by the people of Oro since Oron road is not the only federal road in the state. He said the state government had intervened in a lot of federal roads and wondered why the same machinery was not used to fix Oron road.
He said: “The people have come to develop this feeling that once it comes to the Oro axis nothing should be done well and it is unfortunate. The road upon being broken into two, there was a lot of cries both locally and internationally.
“When we started seeing heavy trucks, we felt there was a positive response from the state government. That was the feeling of the people. We thought the road will be back to normal but that had not been the case.
“For a community that thinks it should be closely knit and for that section of the community to feel sidelined, marginalised, neglected, it becomes very disturbing. Within the people, the anger is boiling and swelling.
“You will start seeing the people portraying the government as against them. That road is a road the government should have done within one month and hand it over to the people. The road was not totally filled up. The hard core got to a certain level and they stopped. The people are now feeling that it is a general thing when it comes to Oro Nation. Once it is the Oro axis it needs not be completed and it is unfortunate.”
Another resident of the area, Mike Okpo, said: “Over the years, Oron road has undergone a lot of deterioration and neglect. The traffic on that road had been quite heavy over the decades. It is quite unfortunate that in the recent times road like Oron road has been relegated to the back quarters.
“We had expected that as Akwa Ibom is known to be buoyant that a prominent road like Oron road should have been one of the roads the state government would have given priority to.
“With all fairness even if every other road is not looked into, a road of that prominent should not be allowed to cut off totally. It speaks something else. People outside the state who have been applauding us come to see that road some of them may think differently.”
During an inspection tour to the collapsed road, the state Commissioner for Works, Don Etim, had sympathised with Edem whose building was washed away by the gully erosion.
Etim, who spoke through the Head of Civil Engineering Directorate, Effiong Effiakedoho, explained that ravine encroachment was natural but could be aided by human activities.
He noted that the case in Oron was a direct result of silting of drains, adding that the protection of environment is a direct responsibility of every member of the public.
The commissioner appealed to Stemco Construction Company handling projects to take up immediate preliminary intervention.
