After years of neglect, nine roads in very bad shapes in Akwa Ibom State are gradually getting a new lease of life courtesy of emergency repairs by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Ukana Offot Street in the heart of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State is a major link road between two all important dualised roads, Aka Road and Abak Road. On the road are major commercial, residential buildings and two major federal government institutions, the National Examination Council (NECO), and the Federal Science and Technical College. The emergency management warehouse of the office of the deputy governor is also situated on the road.
For years, the connection of the major parts of the road has been a signpost for describing a bad road: abandoned; pot hole-filled; neglected; impassable; flooded; deplorable.
Thanks to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the road will soon be a signpost for every good thing a road should be: good, passable, asphalted, good drains.
Work is ongoing on the road as part of the commission’s emergency repairs and intervention of roads across the regions. Other roads across the state on the list for repairs are Clement Isong Street, Uyo; School Road and environs, Uyo; Enwang-Ibaka Road, Mbo Local Government Area; Udoh Street, Uyo; Uko-Eshiet street and environs, Uyo, Ibiaku-Ishiet-Adiaha Road, Uruan and Enen Ekpene Road, Eket and portions of the Calabar-Itu highway.
At Ukana Offot, Managing Director of GOP Ltd, contractors handling the repairs, Mr. Brownson Udoh, says the work is going on smoothly.He said “we have just finished creating drains with cache pits for a distance of over 500 metres. We have also dressed the shoulders, poured stone base and priming is going on.”
By next week, Mr. Brownson said the company will pour asphalt on about a distance of 750meters fromAka Road junction to Silas Udo junction.
Residents of the area are elated. Some of them who spoke to this reporter said they are grateful to the NDDC for the job done on the road. “For many years, we have been crying over this road. Even when the last administration had what it called operation fill pot holes in the state, Ukana Offot was not considered. From little pot holes, it grew into a major problem. We could not pass to Abak Road. We had to be trekking through adjourning street to get to Abak Road. We also suffered high transportation costs. No keke or taxi wanted to come here even from Aka Road which was also bad, we are grateful that we have been remembered”, Anietie Udofia, a resident of the street said.
Another resident, Imaobong Effiong who attends one ofthe major churches on the road, the Assemblies of God Church, said “at a point, going to church for evening programme was a problem.You will trek for a long distance to get to Abak Road end. At some times, hoodlumsstarted taking advantage of people by attacking them around the golden Palace Hotel end. We had to be trekking through other linking streets around there, we very very happy that NDDC is constructing the road”.
A NECO Staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity said their joy knew no bounds when the road was being marked by workers of GOP Ltd. “We were surprised because roads were being constructed and repaired all over the state in the last ten years but here, we passed through hell going to work and back. We had to trek through other streets like NEPA Line, Port Harcourt Street and others in this environment to get to work and back. We are very happy that NDDC has done this”.
On School Road, work is also ongoing and residents are as well excited. Some students of the University of Uyo living in the environment gathered in a group when one of them was asked what he thought of the repair work. It became a cacophony of voices as they tried to outwit each other to make comment: “Tell NDDC they have done well”, “Please extend it to Urua Ekpa”. (Urua Ekpa is a major road that links Itu Road and Ikpa Road where the town campus of the University of Uyo is situated and is in a deplorable state). “We are happy”, “More roads please”, “Now we can move out”.
The contractor on the site believesthe work will be finished on schedule. Same goes for Ibiaku-Eshiet-Adiadia Road which hosts a major sea food market in the state, the Adiadia market. Market women who trade in fish and crayfish said the NDDC has done well by remembering the roads for repairs. “We suffered high transportation costs because of the bad nature of the road. This always affected our own price when we sell the items in the open market. Now, with this road, the cost of transportation will be down. So, we are happy that NDDC is doing well”, Mrs. Enobong Inyang, a trader said.
The Calabar-Itu Highway is the major road linking Cross River State to other South-South, South-Eastern and South-Western States in Nigeria. A large portion of it is in Akwa Ibom State. For many years also, the road has been in a deplorable condition.Recently though, it has moved from deplorable to impassable. Cars hardly arrived at their destination as they get stucked in the road. Trucks fall at will, at bad spots, blocking the roads and making transporters and commuters suffer huge losses.
For some months, nobody could enter Calabar through the road. Thanks to NDDC also, repair works has started on the road. This was after Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, paid an on-the-spot visit to the road. Shocked by the deplorable nature of the road, she ordered an immediate deployment of a contractor to carry out repairs in major portion of the road. A visit to the road reveals that her directives have been adhered to. Base Engineering Ltd., one of the contractors has fully mobilized to site and is working on some failed portion of the road. One of the major failed portions worked on in the Akwa Ibom end is just before the Itu bridge head.
Commuters and drivers are happy. One of the drivers Efa Archibong, told this reporter that the intervention by NDDC, though long overdue, was welcomed. He commended the NDDC, saying “If other agencies can be like this, most of our roads would have been fixed”. A commuter, Iboro Udobia said though the emergency repairs were good, the road needs a complete re-construction. “The emergency repair is good and Icommend the NDDC for this but what this particular road needs is a complete re-construction from Calabar to Aba. It should be 8-Lane and toll gates marked out on the road. We will pay. The road is too important for the socio-economic life of the old Eastern Region”, he said.
Speaking to this reporter the Special Assistant to the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Mr. Bekee Anyalewechi, said “the intervention was in fulfillment of one of the core mandates of the NDDC – that of conception, planning and implementation of projects and programmes for sustainable development of the Niger Delta area in the field of transportation, including roads, jetties and waterways.”
He said the acting Managing Director, Mrs. Semenitari “has changed fully well the public perception of NDDC as non-performing and wasteful. She has committed resources to only areas that are beneficial to people of the region. These emergency repair projects all over the region are one of those areas. From the feedback we are getting, the people are happy and it gives the acting MD satisfaction that one of the mandates of the commission is being fulfilled.”
