By Odinaka ANUDU

One of the greatest problems plaguing the South-Eastern part of Nigeria is the pitiable state of roads in the region. From Anambra to Enugu, down to Ebonyi, Abia and Imo, many state and federal government roads are either in a state of abandonment or total disrepair. At the moment, residents of the region prefer to describe their roads as death warrants since they now consider the expression ‘death trap’ as a cliché.

One of such grossly dilapidated and utterly abandoned roads is the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway. This road connects the South-East states of Anambra and Enugu to the North-Central states of Benue and Kogi. It also leads to the fastest growing city in Africa: Nigeria’s federal capital, Abuja. The story does not end here. A cursory look at the heavy duty vehicles that ply this road shows that traders from Kaduna, Niger, Nassarawa, Kano and other states of the North, most of who buy their products in the commercial cities of Onitsha and Nnewi, also use this road. It is not in doubt that this road has contributed meaningfully to Nigeria’s Gross National Income, GNI, in the past two decades.

But in spite of its importance, the road has so far received little attention from the Federal Government. This magazine recalls that, following the many years of mournful experiences of the travellers who constantly use the road, the government of late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua contracted the total rehabilitation of the expressway to Messrs CCC Construction Company in 2009. Work began in earnest in December of the same year and the staff of the firm worked day and night. Indeed, this reporter interviewed some civil engineers on site in 2009, and many of them had expressed hope that the project would not last for more that one year, given the speed with which the company worked.

Those who used the road during the 2009 Christmas season counted their losses. From New Parts in Onitsha, Anambra State, for instance, traffic clogged the road to Umunya, some 10 kilometres stretch. Passengers travelling to Enugu, a distance of about one hour and half hours from Onitsha, had to spend up to six hours in the jam. Some were said to have suffocated, while some others were attacked by armed robbers who pretended to be sellers of assorted edibles like gala sausage, cakes, drinks, etc. Worse still, many others became victims of accidents. These unfortunate incidents occurred because the contracting firm barricaded one part of the two-lane road. And the citizens of the affected areas endured these excruciating pains because, just as in the infamous slogan used by the immediate past governor of Imo State, they wanted to “suffer now and enjoy forever”.

Today, the project has been abandoned, just like numerous other federal projects in the region. Upon investigation, Nigerian OrientNews gathered that Messrs CCC Construction Company left the project midway out of frustration due to non-release of funds by the federal government. Up till now, one lane of this road remains unusable. A traveller from Onitsha to Enugu is wont to observe that from Nkpor, Idemili North LGA, down to the toll gate at Ogbunike, and up to Umunya, drivers struggle to outrun one another in one lane, a situation that has sent many users to their early graves. Just few weeks ago, about twenty-four passengers lost their lives in a head-on collision involving a bus belonging to a popular transport company in the region (name withheld) and a heavy duty vehicle. Equally, from Awka, Anambra State capital, down to Amansea, and through such towns as Ugwuoba, Obinofia Ndiagu, Umuagba Owa, Ogwofia Owa in Enugu State, up to the overhead bridge at 9^th Mile Corner, the situation is much the same. The situation is worsened when it rains. To compound the woes of commuters, policemen who mount roadblocks from pole to pole delay free flow of traffic through their serial collection of twenty naira ‘roja’ in the pretext of ‘stop and search’.

Many South-Easterners strongly see this as a purposeful act of omission on the part of the Federal Government. The feeling in the region is that the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, a body charged with the responsibility of rehabilitating federal roads in the country, has once again failed the South-East region. Everyday, people’s frustrations are expressed in unpalatable words.

Following this, some prominent persons in the region have expressed their loss of confidence in the new administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Hon Juventus Ojukwu, a one-time chairman of House Committee on Defence in the Federal House of Representatives, was forceful and blunt in his aspersions. “President Jonathan promised us a breath of fresh air, but what he has given us is foul air. The thunderous silence of South-East leaders who supported Jonathan is amazing.” He blamed Ohanaeze Ndigbo for refusing to speak on a sensitive issue like this which has prompted the region to play the second fiddle in the scheme of things.         

Just recently, the governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, advised the federal government to continue the project and finish it in earnest in order to alleviate the sufferings of the masses. He went ahead to say that his administration is ready to take over the job if the FG says it cannot continue.

Two things are clear, however. One is that if the governor wants to redeem the overwhelming support he had prior to his re-election, he should go ahead and fulfil his pledge, just like his predecessor, Dr Chris Ngige, did, since it is clear the FG is probably incapable of completing it. Yet, he cannot do it all alone. Governor Sullivan Chime should also do his own part, especially now that he has shown that road construction is critical to his government.

But the new Minister of Works, Mike Onolemaman, who recently said the ministry should discourage abandonment of projects, cannot be left out of this mess. He is advised to ensure that his ministry funds the contractor properly or re-award it to a bigger construction firm in order to facilitate speedy rehab of the road. He, alongside the Minister of State for Works, Bashir Yuguda, will be judged by the South-Easterners based on the successful completion or non-completion of this all-important road as well as other abandoned roads in the region.