The state of federal roads in Cross River State has been a source of concern to the state government, residents and motorists. Their cries have fallen on deaf ears and the roads keep getting worse, leading to waste of man-hours, writes Nicholas Kalu
If there are things Cross River State has in abundance, they are stretches of federal roads in utter states of disrepair.
From Bakassi to Obanliku, the condition of these roads mostly constructed in the 70s has been a source of misery for users.
The state is so large that driving from some parts to another can last for seven hours or more. Mostly contributing to this is the poor state of federal roads which link up most of the 18 local government areas.
There are 22 federal roads in the state spanning about 1100km.
Some of them are: Calabar-Itu, Calabar-Ikom, Calabar-Ikang, Ikom-Ogoja, Ugep-Obubra, Ikom-Obudu, Ogoja-Obudu, Ogoja-Yala-yahe, Ogoja-Gakem-Vandikya, Mbok-Yahe, Okuku-Alifokpa and Ugep-Itigidi-Afikpo.
The roads were constructed over three decades ago, when the heavy traffic on them were not as high as now. But with increasing number of heavy duty trucks, especially those conveying chippings, rocks and cement out of the state, the roads have deteriorated badly in the past decade.
An official of the Federal Ministry of Works who begged not to be named said about 80 per cent of the federal roads in the state need urgent attention.
He said: “I can tell you that from our appraisal of the roads, they need total reconstruction to bring them to the capacity that can cope with the thousands of heavy duty trucks that ply them.”
Despite promises by government agencies over time that the roads would be fixed, nothing has been done about them. In fact, the terrible condition of these roads has over time been a cause of contention between the state and Federal governments.
Governor Liyel Imoke, at a forum in Calabar, questioned the rationale behind the Federal Government controlling roads that are located within states.
The governor argued that if a legislation was put in place and control of such roads is given to the states with additional funding given to them to manage the roads, it would be a much better situation.
He said this would enable states fix federal roads more urgently as they are the ones who feel the impact directly, instead of waiting endlessly for the federal government to repair them.
At a time, the Commissioner for Works, Legor Idagbo, said the state government had spent billions on the rehabilitation of federal roads.
Idagbo said the state was still waiting for a refund of the money from the Ministry of Works.
The Commissioner appealed to the Federal Government to reimburse the money to encourage the state to do more.
“Everybody knows that we are having financial challenges, so we are appealing to the Federal Government to help us.
“We are also appealing to the government to expedite action on rehabilitation and reconstruction of the federal roads,” Idagbo said.
Commissioner for Information Mr Akin Ricketts said: “Government wishes to note that the deplorable state of federal roads in the state has worsened in the last six years, as a result of which the state government has expended over N13 billion on remedial maintenance of these roads. No kobo has been paid back to the state till date by the Federal Government.
“We, therefore, appeal to the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently come to the rescue of the State by directing the re-construction and dualisation of these Federal roads to bring them to the capacity of the current high volume of heavy duty traffic on these roads as well as make refunds of the over N 13 billion already spent on providing remedial maintenance on these Federal roads.”
Most infamous of these roads are the Calabar-Itu and Calabar-Ikom roads, which are the only gateways by land in and out of the capital city, Calabar, where traffic activities are most intense.
The Calabar-Itu road, especially, the Odukpani axis, which is the most strategic and economically viable of these two as it the shortest route to other south-south and south-east states is worse off. Besides the accidents that occur on the road frequently, it is often that commuters have had to spend days on the road because of trucks that fall, causing serious traffic jams.
Towards the end of last year, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) in Cross River State embarked on strike, plunging the state into the agony of fuel scarcity. Their reason: the deplorable state of the Calabar-Itu Federal Highway.
NUPENG’s action did well to bring the state of the road to the front burner as it appeared the terrible state of the road was all but neglected by relevant authorities despite its huge significance to the economy of the state.
Transport operators and commuters who ply the road often were also full of tale of woes.
A businessman, who uses the road often, Kenneth Obi, said: “I don’t know if this is another of their punitive measures. This state has been suffering from the hands of the Federal Government over the years. The state does not have much but the only road leading into it is almost impassable. I have slept on this road severally and it is affecting my business seriously. In fact, this road which I would say is the only main road to Calabar is killing the economy of this state. I beg the Federal Government to come to come to the rescue.”
As help appears not to be coming from Abuja, many users have begged the state government to the state government to reconstruct and dualise the Calabar-Odukpani Highway, given its importance.
At the moment, the road is a narrow strip with bad spots in several places.
A commuter, who gave his name as Bassey Michael, pleaded that even if the road belongs to the Federal Government, the state government should intervene urgently as they are affected directly.
“This Federal Government they are talking about is actually very far away and they are not feeling anything. The condition of this of this road is affecting the state negatively, especially economically.”
