Motorists and other road users are currently going through a harrowing experience plying the bad portions of the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway in Anambra State. The road connects motorists from the old Niger Bridge to other parts of the South-East states.
Our correspondent who visited the Upper Iweka end of the road near the Old Niger Bridge, on Saturday, reported that from the spot through the Mgbaemene, Enamel, Amanator and Metallurgical sections had become an eyesore with stagnant water and heaps of refuse littered in the numerous heavy potholes noticed on the road.
Some motorists who shared their plights while navigating through the bad portions urged the state government to provide palliatives on the road, despite being a federal road.
They said that apart from their harrowing experience on the road on a daily basis, the bad portions have become a den for armed robbers and kidnappers, who have continuously robbed and snatched vehicles and other belongings of road users.
A motorist and also the Vice-Chairman, South-East Drivers Welfare Union, Timothy Irene, lamented that the road was no longer motorable, adding that it is regrettable that both the state and federal governments have turned deaf ears to their plights.
Irene said, “Although a few days before the rainy season, some people poured heaps of red sand on the bad portions, it did not last as the rains immediately washed it off. All we are calling for is a permanent solution.
“I have been plying this road for more than 30 years now and I can tell you that it has never been this terrible. Successive governors in the state have abandoned the road in recent times, even though it is a federal road, they should know that it is Anambra residents that make use of it.
“Some members of adjoining communities have been filling the bad portions with sand, but at the slightest rain, the road goes back to being bad. This road is a critical road that connects the whole of South-East states and I don’t know why they have left it in this terrible state.
“I do not know if government officials make use of the road because I see no reason why the road has been left in this sorry state for over 15 years.
“The potholes on the road have turned to gullies to the extent that they damage vehicles and if you decide to stop and check the vehicle along the road, you will either fall victim of robbery attack or officials of Anambra Road Transport Management Authority will surround you and you will end up paying over N50,000 fine for road obstruction.
“It appears like an organised crime. Robbers keep attacking road users and motorists because of the bad roads. Many people have had their cars snatched and their valuables dispossessed at gunpoint.”
Another motorist, simply identified as Uche, blamed the state government for abandoning the road over a long period of time.
Uche said, “I use the road frequently, it is now in a very terrible state. The last time real palliative works were carried out on it was in 2009. Trucks fall on the road on a daily basis and thereby subjecting innocent motorists to risk and death.
“We need the state government to do something about it. I once lost a sibling who was shot dead by armed robbers on the road due to its bad condition.”
When contacted on the telephone on the development, the Coordinator, Federal Road Maintenance Agency, South-East zone, Paul Okeke, said paucity of funds had largely been responsible for the lack of maintenance on the road.
“The Second Niger Bridge has just been opened, the presence of the Ministry of Works on the Second Niger Bridge was part of the reasons we have not carried out maintenance works on the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway.
“The second Niger Bridge connects the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway and anywhere there is presence of the Ministry of Works, we don’t go near there until they are done with their works. But now, as soon as funds are released, the road will be given attention,” Okeke said.
