Extension of Uzodimma road projects to Ekeonumiri

Governor Hope Uzodimma’s mantra of shared prosperity works well as a framework for implementing his government’s policies and programs. Ideally, any serious government would have a philosophy, a policy framework, that guides its actions to serve its citizens.

The slogan of shared prosperity is a proactive strategy to identify the key needs of the people and thereby draw urgent attention to them in order to lead the country to prosperity. The prosperity of the nation should be the desire of every responsible government. This is because the welfare and safety of the people is the government’s primary responsibility.

Therefore, common prosperity includes issues such as the development of road infrastructure, education, health care, agriculture and urban revitalization. All of these are critical needs that enhance the good life that manifests itself in people’s quality of life and safety.

For decades, the issue of road development has remained a recurring challenge for every administration in Imo State. While some administrations have actually tackled road development, as former Governor Sam Mbakwe demonstrated in no small measure, others have added to complement what is on the ground.

From what can be seen on the ground, there is no doubt that much remains to be done. Roads remain impassable in many parts of the state, making access to local communities difficult. The Uzodimma administration is facing such a state of affairs that needs to be vigorously combated.

A home visit over Christmas and New Year gave me the opportunity to see everything with my own eyes. What is the Uzodinmma administration doing? From the outside, there is an impression that nothing is happening apart from political squabbles and unhealthy throwing of stones. But honestly, this is far from the truth. This is not the case.

The government has its hands on deck and is working to leave a legacy on many fronts.
Personally, I am interested in what is happening in the road infrastructure sector. I had the opportunity to visit parts of the three zones of Imo State to assess the performance of the government.

Starting from Owerri, assuming that the Okorocha administration has tried to renovate the state capital as much as possible, there are still many key roads in and around Owerri that have remained intact which are now being addressed by the Uzodimma administration. Surprisingly, no one hears about it because no noise is made about it.

Chief among these roads is the Naze-Ihiagwa road from Poly junction leading to Federal College of Technology (Coltech), Federal University of Technology (FUTO) and down to Obinze on the Oweri-Port Harcourt highway. It serves as a bypass connecting the Owerri-Aba road with the Owerri-Port Harcourt road through this link.

Other critical roads that have been completed include Buhari Road from World Bank Market, Yar’Adua Road from World Bank and another road from Control to Umugwoma.

On the Orlu axis, serious work is underway on the duality of the Owerri-Orlu road. The same work is ongoing on the Owerri-Okigwe Expressway. Work on these two main roads is being carried out by leading contractor Craneburg and is expected to be completed at the earliest.

It should be noted that these two paths are the so-called federal roads that have been neglected for decades but which the Uzodinmma administration has taken up as a challenge to give people a new lease of life.

While the administration has earmarked these two major highways for rehabilitation, the Owerri-Umuahia road and the Owerri-Aba road also need to be considered.

My visit to Orlu and Okigwe showed that these zones generally have good motorable roads, showing that efforts appear to be concentrated there. Shared prosperity is also needed in other places.

It is for this reason that I deplore the terrible condition of the Ekeonumiri road connecting Okpuala and Owu, the two communities that make up Amakohia in Ikeduru Local Government Council.

The laments of the Amakohia-Ikeduru people at the beginning of the Rochas Okorocha administration’s ‘rescue mission’ in Imo State came to nothing when the rescue mission ended with Ikeduru gaining nothing. Ikeduru was completely forgotten. There is nothing that could constitute a dividend of democracy in this area.

Just as people have been forgotten since independence and only remembered during elections when their votes were needed, politicians will soon start seeking citizens’ votes as the 2023 election campaign approaches.

I was scandalized when I returned home and saw that Ekeonumiri road had collapsed. I couldn’t believe that there was no road leading to my village, Owu Amakohia. All roads leading to Ikeduru from all sides are devastated and impassable. Whether you come from Atta, Iho, Mbaise or Azaraegbelu axis, the trauma is the same. There is no road connecting one community to another. Owu-Amakohia was cut off from her kittens and relatives in Okpuala Amakohia.

Ikeduru is probably the only Local Government Council (LGC) in Imo State that lacks tarmac roads. What would have looked like an asphalt road in the forgotten LGC, a road radiating from Azaraegbelu through Avuvu to Owu Amakohia, was stopped mid-way after being destroyed in the name of revitalization. The inhabitants of this axis regret that this road was even moved.

By all accounts, Ikeduru Local Government Council (LGC) is a forgotten enclave in Imo State. There is nothing to write home about Ikeduru, which shares a border with Owerri, the capital of Imo State. Some of the towns that make up Ikeduru are: Amakohia, Atta, Akabo, Uzoagba, Avuvu, Okwu and Amaimo. In total, Ikeduru consists of 17 cities.

From Afor Owu-Amakohia I went through Ekeonumiri and found the road completely destroyed. A section of road in front of the former Amakohia Girls’ Secondary School has been buried under massive sand resulting from the erosion of ravines. Vehicles got stuck on a long stretch of sand.

The road from this point is damaged and impassable. No vehicle tries to pass through it. In the 1960s, when the road was maintained by the Ikeduru County Council PWD, there were no swales and vehicles plied freely.

On the side of the former Amakohia Girls’ Secondary School, no one who doesn’t know the place would believe that there was ever a reputable secondary school there. The school’s fortunes worsened when the state government downgraded it to junior high school due to inaccessibility.

Teachers and other staff refused to send students to school. In the same precinct was the former Ekeonumiri market, which, along with Afor Ogbe in Ahiazu Mbaise, was a popular cattle meat market. The market disappeared and the cattle trade became a thing of the past.

Opposite the market square there are the remains of a former medical clinic. The clinic operated in the 1960s and early 1970s and provided medical care to Amakohia and neighboring communities. But today, instead of moving to a health center or hospital or keeping it as a clinic, the entire facility has disappeared, leaving the community with nothing.

It could be seen that within the once bustling Ekeonumiri there was a secondary school, a market and a clinic. But today there is nothing there anymore because of the bad road. So are we moving forward or backward? If the basic social amenities that existed in the 1960s and 1970s could disappear, what does that say about governance?

From Ekeonumiri I headed towards Nkwo Amakohia and headed for Okwu. From there it was hell on earth, driving along one of the worst country roads in Nigeria. In the 1960s, as children, we used to cross the shorter Onuoma-Okwu Bridge to Afor Okwu. This road was kept passable due to regular maintenance by the PWD.

Although the bridge was wooden, trucks carrying boards, palm oil and other agricultural products passed over it. More than fifty years after independence, the Onuoma Okwu Bridge completely collapsed and the road was closed. Okwu Community Hospital in Afor Okwu was virtually closed due to bad road.

The question must be asked what happened to the Mbakwe administration’s rural development drive. It was Mbakwe’s focus on rural infrastructure that led to the creation of many feeder roads to different parts of the old Imo State. This focus on rural development attracted industries such as the aluminum extrusion factory in Inyishi, Imo Modern Poultry in Avutu Obowo, the now defunct Amaraku power plant, among others.

The people of Amakohia Ikeduru are looking forward to Governor Hope Uzodimma taking part in shared prosperity. The Governor’s Shared Prosperity presents a unique opportunity to make a difference in Ekeonumiri and restore the prosperity that was once the hallmark of the community.