Victor EzejaA truck laden with content suspected to be diesel collapsed at a section of Onitsha-Owerri road, causing the road to be divided into two.
The incident happened around the electrical material dealers market, Obosi axis of the 82-kilometre Onitsha-Owerri Expressway.
With the sudden collapse of the road, the truck fell into a gully in the middle of the road, leaving road users stranded alongside vehicles on the road.
The road which according to residents, was a poorly done project, was weakened by heavy downpours and recent flooding.
This came as a socio-cultural/political group, Cultural Credibility Development Initiative (CCDI) on Tuesday stated in an open letter to the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, that the Onitsha-Owerri road has become highly dilapidated and now a death trap for people using the road on daily basis and urged immediate repair of the road for easy movement in the commercially viable region of the country.
Reacting to the development, a rights activist, Comrade Donatus Chimbiko, noted that political leaders woo citizens in the southeast with the promise of construction of roads during presidential campaigns, only to renege on that and abandon the projects after the elections are over.
In his words, “I think that our politicians are using the road to deceive the Igbo people during presidential campaigns and we fall for it. This is because, after they occupy political seats, our Igbo leaders ignore agitating for it or some of them would be settled financially to keep quiet while the poor masses are affected, died in accidents or have their economic activities hindered or crippled by poor transportation resulting from bad road networks across the region.”
Construction of Onitsha-Owerri road has been off and on since the military era. Federal government under Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2003 flagged off reconstruction of the road, when it awarded contract of N24 billion for it with three-year completion period. This was during kick off of the 2003 presidential election campaign.
In 2004, the contractor handling the project then, Consolidated Construction Company Limited (CCC), complained about lack of funding by the federal government as responsible for delay of the work.
In 2007, it was also reportedly abandoned by the construction giant, Julius Berger Plc which handled about 40 per cent of the road from Owerri end, due to poor compliance in providing fund for the project by the government.
Similar issue of poor funding for the road project by the federal government was also reported during Jonathan administration. In 2010, when the Presidential Project Assessment Committee (PPAC), visited road construction sites across Southeast States to assess level of work done, the area Manager of Consolidated Construction Company Limited in charge of Onitsha-Owerri road then, absorbed the firm of responsibility for delay in completion of the work. He attributed it to lack of government commitment in funding the project.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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