….Residents lament over state of Enugu-Onitsha, Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene roads, Adada dam, other projects
From Magnus Eze, Geoffrey Anyanwu (Enugu), George Onyejiuwa, Stanley Uzoaru (Owerri), Okey Sampson (Umuahia), Obinna Odogwu (Awka), Ogbonnaya Ndukwe (Aba), Chijioke Agwu (Abakaliki)
The biggest Federal Government project in the Southeast is the Second Niger Bridge, Onitsha, Anambra State, which was recently completed and virtually commissioned by former President Muhmmadu Buhari.
He commissioned it alongside six other projects from the council chambers in Aso Rock, Abuja on May 23, before he left office on May 29.
Initiated by his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, who performed the ground breaking on March 10, 2014, the Buhari-led administration confronted the project to its completion.
Official figures showed that the 1.6km bridge which was awarded in 2018, was constructed at N206,151,693,014.
Not minding the commendations that trailed the completion of the gigantic Second Niger Bridge project, Sunday Sun gathered that the people of the zone are worried about the multitude of abandoned federal projects across the region.
From Ebonyi to Anambra, Enugu to Abia and Imo, a good chunk of the federal projects bears insignia of abandonment, which resident appeal to the new government of President Bola Tinubu to pay attention to. Many of these projects were actually started by Buhari’s predecessors.
For instance, the Enugu-Onitsha highway has remained a good advertisement of abandonment even as the Buhari government made appreciable effort in delivering some sections of the road.
In Anambra, the Awka-Onitsha axis of the expressway is yet to be completed. In fact, the dual carriageway is seemingly abandoned by the Federal Government.
A section of it from a flyover in Amawbia to Umunya has been completed, but the second lane has remained dilapidated.
Again, from Eze-Uzu Junction near the Government House to Amansea in Awka North LGA has remained terribly dilapidated. One of the two lanes is no longer in use due to its terrible state.
It was gathered that the project is being financed from the Sukuk fund.
At Federal Polytechnic, Oko in Orumba North LGA, the erosion issues in the school have remained untouched.
Public Relations Officer of the institution, Chijioke Ibeziako, said that a gully erosion which encroached into the school premises in 2021 has remained unattended to by the Federal Government despite all appeals to it.
He said that all the relevant offices that should know about the erosion issues in the polytechnic were duly informed about it.
Ibeziako also lamented that there were a few abandoned projects in the polytechnic which the management was hoping that the government would complete as soon as possible.
Although the PRO did not give details of the abandoned projects, he said that the school would find them very useful when completed.
At the Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze in Orumba South Local Government Area of the state, the internal road of the College Main Campus has never been constructed for the first time.
The past administration commenced work there. Two phases of the road totalling a few kilometers have been tarred as at the time the reporter visited the college.
One of the construction workers who pleaded anonymity said they would resume work when they receive fund for the next phase of the project.
Also, the main access road to the college was cut off since last year after the old bridge linking the road collapsed.
Reconstruction of the collapsed bridge has commenced, but the progress of the work has been slow. Staff and students take local routes full of potholes and craters to school.
The Federal Government has, however, initiated and completed several development projects in the college.
Aba/Ikot Ekpene, Umuahia/Ikot Ekpene roads beg for urgent attention
In Abia, there are not much ongoing Federal Government projects in the state. However, the few and which have not been completed are the Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway (Abia section), the Aba/Ikot Ekpene and the Umuahia/Ikot Ekpene highways.
Another abandoned Federal Government project is the Eastern rail line connection (Abia section).
The Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway that traversed three states, was stopped at a spot after Osisioma Junction. Although work on the road started from Enugu, but as far as Abia is concerned, the work is about 50 per cent completed.
Like some sections of the Enugu/Onitsha Highway, the project is being financed by the Sukuk fund.
Following the abandonment of the road, articulated vehicle drivers sometime last year protested the poor condition of the Aba/Port Harcourt section of the Expressway.
The drivers who narrated their traumatic experiences on the road, claimed that several of their members had lost their lives as a result of the deplorable state of the road.
They also lamented the nightmare they faced, as their vehicles breakdown daily on the road.
It took agencies of both the Federal and Abia State governments several days of persuasion before the protesting drivers vacated the road after nine days of occupation.
For the Umuahia/Ikot Ekpene Highway which has remained a death trap for many years, work has not gone beyond construction of drainages in some portions of the road. In fact, only about five per cent of work could be said to have been done on the road.
Many people have lost their lives on the road due to its dilapidation. Late last year, a student of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUAU) was crushed to death by a trailer when the driver lost control of the vehicle due to the craters on the road.
The same could be attributed to the Aba/Ikot Ekpene Road. Although the Federal Government said it awarded contract for the reconstruction of the road some years back, but less than two kilometers of the road has been reconstructed.
Painfully, the exclusion of the South East in the rail project has remained evident as nothing significant has been done in the Abia section, except the uprooting and clearing of rail line which is yet to be completed.
However, work was said to have started at the Port Harcourt end of the rail line.
Specifically in Abia South axis of the state, five federal road projects are in great disrepair and abandonment.
They include the Obehie-Azumini-Ukanafun Expressway, awarded to China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC), by the Goodluck Jonathan-administration over 10 years ago, to link the Port Harcourt end of the Enugu expressway, with Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, through the oil-rich Ukwa West and Ukwa East Areas of Abia State.
Others are the Aba-Azumini-Ukanafun-Opobo highway, and the Aba/Osisioma NNPC-Eke Akpara-Owerrenta Road linking the major Aba-Ngor Okpala-Owerri highway, as well as the Aba/Opobo Junction-Ikot Ekpene interstate highway, earlier mentioned. Contracts for these major outlets were at one time or the other said to have been awarded for rehabilitation by the federal government, but seem abandoned today. Some of the firms handling them had either moved out their equipment or still on the site but inactive.
On the other hand, many roads, health and educational facilities being handled in rural communities especially in the oil producing areas of Ukwa East and Ukwa West Councils by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and its parent ministry, Ministry of Nigeria Delta Affairs, are in sorry situations, while the people they were meant to serve continue to suffer.
Former Council Chairman of Ukwa West, Chief Sylvanus Nwaji, blamed the abandonment on political leaders, who after being appointed into federal and state public offices, abandon their duties to their primary constituencies.
“Many of these abandonments are the handiwork of representatives we sent or those that get appointed into public offices. They go to enrich themselves and their families, instead of the larger community.
“It is my plea that the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, should look at these abandoned projects, and direct the contractors to go back to complete them.
“It is very painful that the road linking Obehie-Okeikpe-Akwette-Azumini, with Ukanafun, a dual carriageway to complement the East/West Federal Highway, for which personal and business houses and other properties were destroyed to give way to, have been abandoned and became death-trap and impassable during the rainy season, like now,” Nwaji lamented.
A trader at Ariaria International Market, Aba, also complained about these federal roads, adding, “Also, the railway tracks that were removed by the last administration, should as a matter of urgency, be replaced with current standards to enable travellers use rail services for transport.”
Another trader, Mrs Nkiru Chikwendu, who plies the Aba/Ikot Ekpene federal highway, said the state of the Abia end of the road for more than 30 years before reconstruction work began on it last year, was an eyesore, as road users rode through pathways in commercial motorcycle at very exorbitant charges to Ikot Ekpene.
“We used to pay N500 for the 23kilometre road from Aba to Ikot Ekpene, but now to use okada, we pay N3,000, to pass through the bad areas on to the Akwa Ibom border with Abia.”
“We were happy when the federal government brought contractors to do the road after a long abandonment. Let this and other projects they are handling not be abandoned. This is my plea,” she said.
Akanu Ibiam Airport, roads, Adada dam, priority to Enugu
The Federal Government has its hands in some federal roads in Enugu which rehabilitation works have been on and off for years now cutting across about three administrations. Such roads include Enugu-Onitsha expressway, Enugu – Port Harcourt expressway, 9th Mile – Nsukka – Obolafor road and Ogrute-Ayigba-Lokoja Bye-pass.
Enugu-Onitsha expressway has lingered for a long time; at a time, government divided it into many parts and shared to contractors. Yet, nothing serious came out of it. Outside the area from 9th Mile to Ǹkwọ Ezeagu that RCC company did one side of the dual carriage way, work progressed at Ugwu Onyeama axis following the takeover of the project by MTN Nigeria.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the takeover of the construction work on the Enugu-Onitsha expressway by MTN Nigeria at about N202.8 billion, under the road infrastructure tax credit (RITC) scheme last year.
People are worried about the road as it has become a death trap and continued to claim lives with reckless abandon especially theUgwu Onyeama section. Many people including widow of Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Bianca Ojukwu had narrated their experiences there and called on government to speed up the work to save lives.
On the Enugu – Port Harcourt expressway, one side of the dual carriage way has been done from the Abia-Enugu boundary at Lokpanta to Enugu town around New Artisan but not without serious defects and leaving of some portions undone.
Worse still, is that the one lane worked on is fast failing embarrassingly while the construction company is still on site. A source in the Federal Ministry of Works disclosed that there is an issue of subsoil with the project.
“When they designed that project, they did not take cognisance of the soil texture of some portions of the road, unfortunately some portions of the road have clay soil and that was the reason for the failed areas,” our source said.
The source, however, noted that the problem has been identified and necessary documentations, paper works for the correction have been made and that the needful would be done at those areas.
Meanwhile, the 9th Mile-Nsukka- Obolloafor road project has been on a snail pace and in fact, work is said to have stopped on it. The road has become a lucrative route for armed robbers and kidnappers.
Also abandoned is the Ogrute-Ayigba-Lokoja Bye-pass said to have been awarded at the cost of about N13.6 billion, a road which supposed to be a short route to Abuja from Enugu. The contractor was alleged to have only scraped the surface and a little bit of grading and vamoosed.
Apart from roads, one strategic project to the people of Southeast is the Akanu Ibiam International Airport. The immediate past administration embarked on upgrade of the facility with about N10 billion.
Though the plan was to put in place everything that was needed for an international airport to function, but after one year of closure, only the runway was expanded to three kilometres to accommodate bigger aircraft.
The extended runway came with a taxiway, car park, fencing, terminal building rehabilitation, instrument landing facilities, Communication VSat, New DHF radio and airfield lightning for night operation, among others and with that the airport was reopened for local and international flights.
The then Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, announced that N1 billion had been released for ongoing renovation work at the terminal buildings of the local and international wings, adding that “With these achieved, we will now focus on delivering the terminal and cargo buildings while ensuring that we give this place the best in line with international best standards.”
Unfortunately, over a year after, nothing is happening again at the airport in terms of putting those things he promised into place, and that is why international flight has not picked there. Due to lack of terminal building for international wings, only Ethiopian Airline operates international flight at the airport.
The international wing hanger and terminal which construction is being handled by a Chinese company has been abandoned just as the cargo terminal.
An airport official lamented that non-completion of the international terminal is costing them a lot. “We are losing a lot in this international terminal that they have not completed. You know it is the federal government through the ministry that handles all the projects but over a year now noting is happening in that place, the Chinese company I don’t see them again, it is really painful,” he said.
In agriculture, the Adada Dam project at Adani in Uzo-Uwani local government that its construction started during President Jonathan’s administration is yet to be completed. So, it can not supply water for the whole of Nsukka area and provide irrigation for the famous Ada rice.
Another annoying act of government is the abandonment of the completed multi-million Naira Digital Bridge Institute located at Ugwuogo Nike in Enugu East Local Government, for inexplicable reasons.
The complex for the institute was fully completed, furnished, and every thing in place only for it to be abandoned and bushes and rodents took over the place.
Immediate past Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly, Chief Edward Ubosi, in whose constituency the institute was built noted that the completed project would turn into economic waste if urgent steps were not taken to put it in use.
He appealed to the Federal Ministry of Communication to put necessary machinery in motion with a view to activating the institute.
National Grain Reserve, Egbema gas project dear to Imo
Some federal projects in Imo State that should have been completed but left midway include the National Strategic Grain Reserves at Ezinnachi, Okigwe council area, the Egbema Gas Project in Ohaji/Egbema, and the three major federal arteries in the state.
The project involves the construction of a gas-fired power plant with a capacity of 381MW and was to gulp US$450 million.
The project components of the project were construction of a powerhouse, construction of a substation, construction of water-cooling towers, installation of 3x126MW GE 9EA gas turbines, installation of generators, installation of transformers and laying of transmission lines.
Initially awarded to Rockson Engineering Ltd in 2006 by the President Olusegun Obasanjo-administration, the project is yet to be completed even after Buhari’s eight years in office.
Although the project is said to be 95% near finishing after the contract was re-awarded to another contractor, people of the area can not wait for its completion especially the host council area that has been in darkness for many years.
So far, the engineering work is estimated at 95 per cent, procurement, 93 per cent, construction/field detection 83 per cent, while the overall percentage of completion is about 95 per cent.
Regrettably, work stopped on the site for quite some time leaving most of its environment to be overgrown by weeds.
An indigene of the area, Peter Nwulu urged the new administration of President Tinubu to put finishing touches to the project.
Also, the 25, 000 metric tons silo complex which was started during President Shehu Shagari’s administration in the Second Republic, has been overtaken by thick bushes. Local hunters have turned the vast complex into a hunting ground for wild animals.
There is also the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) project also in Okigwe which Daily Sun learnt was attracted by Senator Ifeanyi Ararume while representing the zone in 2003. The Federal Ministry of Information has not been able to fund the project to fruition for 20 years now.
The Orlu/Owerri, Owerri/Okigwe and the Owerri/Mbaise/Umuhia roads, had suffered similar fate until the Hope Uzodimma-led administration secured approval of the federal authorities to reconstruct them.
An erstwhile Chairman of Obowo Council Area, Dr. Basil Ekweke noted that abandoning of such strategic projects as the grains reserves silo for almost four decades leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
Austin Ihechukwu, a businessman, said the country cannot make any meaningful progress if strategic projects are recklessly abandoned.
“The abandoned Egbema Power project in Ohaji/Egbema council area of Imo State is a case in point. I had expected the state government to take over that project because when completed, it is to the benefit of the state even if it is a federal project,” he said.
Another project that deserves attention in the state is the World Bank erosion site control in Urualla, Ideato North Local Government Area.
Gully erosion has destroyed so many properties and lives in the area and is presently threatening the neighbouring communities of Obodukwu and Osina.
The project put at N9,981,765,514.14 was initially supervised by the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project before the administration of Uzodimma came on board.
Although ex-governor Emeka Ihedioha in 2019, injected N500 million counterpart funding to NEWMAP, an agency of the World Bank under the Federal Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the project remained uncompleted.
The people are calling on the federal government to intervene and save them from losing their homes and property.
Ebonyi residents demand completion of Amasiri power substation, Nara-Isu-Onicha-Okposi-Abaomege road
Arguably, the most important federal project in Ebonyi State, today, is the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) 2x60MVA Substation in Amasiri, Afikpo North LGA, which commenced in 2010. There is also the 2x132Kv Line Bay Extension in Abakaliki, the state capital.
The Amasiri substation is very strategic to the economic and social life of the people of the five local government areas that make up Ebonyi South Senatorial District.
Artisans and other small businesses there have been stunted or their operators forced to make do with generators at heavy cost. Hotels and leisure spots depend wholly on generators as public power supply has been almost non-existent in the entire five LGAs for a long time.
So, residents of towns and communities such as Unwana, Amasiri, Okposi, Ishiagu, Akaeze, Uburu and Isu have learnt to live in darkness.
In addition, the Nara-Isu-Onicha-Okposi-Abaomege (the F113) Federal Road, the newly established Federal College of Education (Technical) Isu and the Akaeze water scheme, are all yearning for the attention of the federal government.
Stakeholders of Isu Community in Onicha Local Government Area appealed to the new president to come to the aid of the school.
One of them, Ndubuisi Uneke, said despite that the institution commenced academic activities late last year, there is no single infrastructure yet in the place.
“They are still using dilapidated school buildings used by former occupant of the premises, Isu Secondary School.
“We were thinking that before academic activities would commence, that necessary infrastructure would have been put in place,” he said.
The institution was among the six Federal Colleges of Education established in 2020 by the Buhari-led administration.
Sunday Sun learnt that despite the take-off, the school premises remained bushy, with no single habitable classroom for students to take lectures.
