A’Ibom community seeks govt intervention over 1.8km road

Ini Billie, Uyo

Residents of Navy Road in Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State have lamented that the abandoned Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) road project in the area is fueling insecurity.

They have called on the intervention of the state government over the road project, saying it slows down the response time of security agencies over any security emergency.

Contract for the construction of the 7.3-metre wide access road stretching over 1.8 kilometres, linking the jetty to Ibaka-Oron Road, was awarded by the NDDC in 2013 to Messrs Foul Plant Nigeria Limited but has been abandoned since 2018.

Findings from our correspondent who visited the area over the weekend showed that some parts of the 1.8km road worsened after the bituminous asphalt was overlayed and the project stopped.

Lamenting that the abandoned road project has become a source of suffering to the people of the area, a youth leader from Ibaka, Mr Etim Michael said the contractor abandoned the project after a slow pace of work which started in 2013.

“The abandoned road project has caused motorists and other communities along the road many years of hardship and further escalated the insecurity experienced in the community, as it slows down the response time of the security agencies particularly the Navy in the event of any security emergency.

“Between 2013 and 2018, the work was abandoned after overlaying about 697.3m of bituminous asphalt from the jetty in Ibaka Beach to the main gate of the Naval Base.

“The completion of the Naval Base access road to link Ibaka-Oron access road will not only ameliorate the terrible suffering experienced when plying the road, especially during the rainy season, but will equally enable the Navy to respond on time in case of security emergency,” he stated.

Michael also said the Navy Road close to the base and the entire Ibaka community had suffered without electricity for the past five years and called on the Port Harcourt Electricity Development Company (PHEDC) to come to their aid.

He stated that appeals for help and letters sent to Governor Umo Eno and his Deputy, Sen. Akon Eyakenyi proved abortive, as well as several efforts in the past by youth organisations in the area to draw the attention of NDDC to the project.

“When we drew the attention of the state government to the poor state of the road, the usual reply has always been that the NDDC will complete it but since 2013, the road has not been completed,” he said.

A taxi driver, Okokon Emmanuel who plies the road from Oron town to Ibaka called on the state government to urgently rehabilitate the 1.8km road without waiting for NDDC.

Emmanuel also urged NDDC Board member, and Executive Director, Project, from Akwa Ibom State, Mr Victor Antai, to ensure that the contractor is summoned back to the site.

“This road is economically very viable to the state, a single individual cannot hold the people of this area to ransom by abandoning a job he gladly collected from NDDC,” he said.

He explained that the 1.8km road that used to take just 3 minutes drive from the naval base, now takes 30 minutes due to the deplorable state of the road.

Another resident, Victor Onwineng, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene over the spate of abandoned projects littering the Niger Delta region, and the National Assembly to initiate a law that would jail such contractors who abandon projects, describing the act as economic sabotage.

Onwineng explained that the completion of the Base access road linking the Ibaka–Oron access road would ameliorate the terrible condition experienced by the residents, especially the Navy’s response time to insecurity in the area.