May 12, (THEWILL) – People of Arondizuogu Community, in Ideato North Local Government Area of the State, have raised alarm and petitioned the Management of Roudo Construction and Engineering Nigeria Limited and its Chief Executive Officer, Chief Tony Chukwu, to return to site to reconstruct the dilapidated 51 kilometre-Oba/Arondizuogu/Okigwe expressway, which failed in less than 90 days of finishing work on the road in 2018/2019.
The community, through Arondizuogu Patriotic Union, said it had in a letter dated 6th October, 2021, demanded that the Federal Expressway be considered for a reconstruction, yet nothing to that effect has been done from both the government and contracted company, thereby causing more catastrophe in the area.
“The people of Arondizogu Ancient Kingdom have made several appeal to Chief Tony Chukwu and the management of the company severally, but he keep making empty promises.”
According to records, the road connecting 5 states namely Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Rivers, and Anambra, was awarded for about N12 billion and the money was paid complete to the contractor, but his works on the road did not justify the pay, as he did a very shabby and poor quality job.
Consequently, the contractor abandoned the site when the road failed the following year, resulting in the now completely impassable state in sharp contrast to the state of the road when the contract was awarded to NDDC.
They added that, “just within weeks of the road being reconstructed in 2018/2019, it started failing”, while noting that since the beginning of this year, the Arondizuogu-Umulolo portion has failed completely, thereby imposing untold hardships on the people and visitors.
“In the past 6 months, the adverse economic impact has been severe, worsened by reports of over 10 kidnappings and armed robberies in that stretch of road over the same period.
“We are writing to you as representatives of Arondizuogu people, the major beneficiaries of the Arondizuogu-Okigwe axis of the Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Federal Expressway.
“The road does not serve only Arondizuogu people, indeed it is a major road that connects two commercial centres in two major states in southeast: Nnewi in Anambra State and Okigwe in Imo State.
According to Arondizuogu Patriotic Union, the Arondizuogu-Umulolo portion of the road had failed for almost 15 years, but Roudo Nigeria Ltd, a company owned by Chief Sir Tony Chukwu, an illustrious son of Imo State and a devout and God-fearing Christian, did some emergency
remedial works about 3 years ago, but those emergency repairs, though highly appreciated, were not designed to be long-lasting.
The communities affected by the failed road have staged several protests to attract federal government attention.
“We hereby appeal to you Sir to come to our help and push for a total reconstruction of the road as palliative measures do not last beyond one rainy season. We appeal to you to investigate whether the re-construction of the road was captured in the 2022 budget for the federal ministry of Works or NNDC or any other relevant MDA in the Federal Government. If not captured, we will appreciate it if there is a push for it to be captured in a supplementary budget given the importance of the road to the economic survival of the host communities and the south east in general.
“Kindly count on our continued support and prayers as you represent us at the National Assembly dutifully and honourably.
“We are tired of begging, we want the government to intervene. We are calling on Government, relevant bodies, security sectors, to demand Chief Tony Chukwu to come fix the road.
“We can’t sell, Our economic activities are crumbling, our tourist life is almost non-existent. Government should please save our souls.”
Recall, people of the area had taken to the streets and roads with placards stressing that their roads are typical death traps that have not only cut them off their comparative economic advantages, but have led to avoidable deaths of Arondizuogu indigenes and visitors.
The protests witnessed an intimidating crowd with bold inscriptions of “Fix the Road and Stop the Robbery”, “Save Our Soul”, “Government Our Last Hope”, “Fix the Road and Stop the Rape” among others on their placards at Ikpaeze-Uno, Ndiejezie, Ndimoko down to Ikpaora bad spots.
