BEVERLY HILLS, March 10, (THEWILL) – A Non-Governmental Organisation under the aeges of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Akwa Ibom State Chapter, has sent a Save Our Soul (SOS) message to the Federal Government seeking intervention on the dilapidated state of the Calabar-Itu highway.
Speaking to newsmen in Uyo, Chairman CLO, Akwa Ibom, Mr Franklin Isong decried the danger and untold hardship being faced by commuters especially the female traders who transport food stuff between the northern Cross River to the neighboring Akwa Ibom and environs due to the bad state of the road for over 20 years.
He disclosed that traders were often attacked, the female traders are sometimes molested and raped by hoodlums when lorries conveying their goods broke down at odd times due to the condition of the road.
Wondering why such was not captured in the 2021 budget, Isong appealed to president Muhamadu Buhari to intervene on the reconstruction of the road.
He urged the Federal Government to include the dilapidated Calabar-Itu-Ikot Ekpene road project in the list of federal roads earmarked for concessioning by the Federal Ministry of Works
“We don’t know why the Calabar-Itu-road has not been captured in concessioning plan of the Federal Government.. But we are saying that whatever it takes it should be placed on the topmost priority of the Federal Government.
“This is necessary as the National Assembly has been unable to make adequate budgetary provision for the highway since the contract for its reconstruction was awarded,” he stressed.
Isong regretted that the road which is a serious death trap has become a subject of politics and wondered why federal roads in Akwa Ibom would be made to suffer such level of dilapidation and neglect even as the state had continued to contribute the highest to the Federation Account.
The Chairman, who lauded the FG initiative to concession some federal highways to private concerns to boost their maintenance, said urgent reconstruction of the highway would save commuters from hardship and boost the socio-economic fortunes of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.
He also called on officials and federal appointees from the two states, especially the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Godswill Akpabio, to impress upon the FG to as a matter of urgency reconstruct the road rather than using it to play politics.
“We are calling on the Federal Government and our brothers who are in government to persuade the Federal Government to see reason not to allow this project enter into politics,” the Chairman maintained.
The SOS by CLO is coming few days after the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang had in an interaction with correspondents in Uyo revealed that inadequate budgetary provisions were stalling the construction of the road while blaming officials and National Assembly members from the two states of Cross River and Akwa Ibom for not doing enough to attract FG attention to the bad shape of the road, saying he was left alone to lobby for fund to be appropriated for the highway.
“I struggled from 2015 and got the first N6 billion in 2015/2016 budget and when it was to be awarded, it was rehabilitation that was advertised to rehabilitate the road from Ikot Ekpene to Calabar, I said no.
“I took the budget to the Minister and Federal Bureau of Procurement. It was advertised in the Federal Tenders Journal but this is not what was advertised in the budget. By the time I was able to overcome that fight, the budget had lapsed, the year had gone and the N6 billion was gone.
“I struggled in the following year to have N4.7 billion and the following year, I split the road into two because if I did not split the road into two, the amount I got in the budget would not have been able to do the initial mobilisation.
“Part of the road was awarded to Julius Berger because that was the money I got in that year from the budget, N4.7 billion was able to take for mobilisation as Julius Berger was paid that money, but it was not still enough for them to heartily mobilise.
“I later struggled two years after to have the other outstanding portion awarded at N50 billion to CCEC. I had N3.8 billion in the budget for that aspect, and I got another money for the Julius Berger aspect. Before we finished the documentation, the year has lapsed and that money has lapsed,” he explained.
He called on federal lawmakers and governors of both states to also take responsibility for the road as it remained vital to the economic and social developement of the area, adding that, efforts are being made for alternative funding for the project.”
