Chuks Uzochukwu
CONTROVERSY has continued to trail the commissioning of some roads in Imo State by President Muhammadu Buhari during his one-day working visit to the state last Thursday.
Some residents of the state have accused President Buhari of not verifying the accurate status of the roads before embarking on their commissioning.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAccording to Mr Chukwuma Onunkwo who spoke to our reporter on the issue, “the said Naze/Nekede/Ihiagwa/Obinze link road, for instance, was poorly built and uncompleted.”
“It is either that President Buhari was outrightly deceived by his host about the road or he practical ignored to carry out investigation on the actual state of the road before agreeing to come for that outing.”
President Buhari commissioned the road alongside the balloon driven/flood control tunnel on Dick Tiger Road, the Egbeada By-pass road (now Iwuanyanwu Way) and the New Executive Chambers, all built by Governor Hope Uzodinma.
Meanwhile, on a visit to the said road, our reporter confirmed that only about four kilometres of the road were constructed out of the entire road estimated to be about 17 kilometres.
The roads house two federal higher institutions, Federal Polytechnic Nekede and Federal University of Technology, Owerri FUTO.
However, Uzodinma had said that the road would be constructed in phases stressing that the commissioned part was phase one of the road project.
In a release signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Oguwuike Nwachukwu, the governor stated that “the road is only an addition to the 46 solid roads including the Muhammadu Buhari Avenue which houses the Federal Secretariat that has been already commissioned.”
In a related development, some FUTO students, commuters, commercial drivers and residents of the area have appealed to the state government to ensure the immediate completion of the road.
The people who recounted their ugly experiences while plying the road insisted that without the completion, the part constructed and commissioned was of no essence to them.
