Ebonyi residents call for FG’s intervention on ‘deadly’ Ezzagu - Isu Federal Road
By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Ebonyi residents have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene on the deplorable state of of Ezzagu Roads in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
The residents who made this known in an interview with Daily
Times on Sunday, September 20, decried the deplorable Federal road that
traversed their community from Ihuokpara-Amagunze, Enugu State to Ezzagu-Isu,
Ebonyi State and the Ezillo - Azuinyaba - Onunweke-Ezzagu Road.
Speaking to one of the residents, Godwin Ezeaka, he said
that the road has been in deplorable condition for decades, as it was last
constructed in 1979 by the administration of Sen Jim Nwobodo.
He described the road as deadly as many lives have been lost
as a result of the road.
According to Ezeaka, the Federal Government started the
rehabilitation of the 41-kilometre Ozalla-Akpugo-Amagunze-Ihuokpara-Nkomoro
Ebonyi road in October, 2017.
‘’The reactivated road was awarded as a full project under
the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.
‘’The project, which was awarded in 2010, was stopped
because of poor funding but was re-awarded by the Muhammadu Buhari
administration.
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‘’Three years down the line, the federal road seems to have been
abandoned, despite the fact that the Federal Government made funds available to
continue this project and the assurance of timely delivery of the project by
the Managing Director of Arab Contractors the firm handling the project,
Mohammed El-Eldaros.
However, Arab Contractors failed to deliver within the
scheduled time,’’ he added.
Ezeaka, describing how the people have suffered because of
the road, said, ‘the deplorable conditions of Ezzagu Roads (Enugu - Amagunze -
Ebonyi Ezzagu & Ishielu Ezillo - Azuinyaba - Onunweke-Ezzagu) cause me
sleepless nights because of the untold hardship to commuters and Residents.
‘’The sorry state of the roads is horrible, terrible and
embarrassing to Ezzagu people as they are presently living in debased and
inhuman conditions.
‘’A drive to Ezzagu forces a Visitor to ask why the people
naturally blessed by God in all ramifications are condemned to suffer
perpetually from lack of virtually all Social Amenities and Infrastructural
facilities.
“We are calling on Ebonyi State Governor to please come to
our aid because our roads are so bad. The Federal road from Ozalla - Agbani
that passed through Akpugo, Amagunze and Ebonyi Ezzagu is so bad that if
nothing is done urgently, we would remain cut off completely from the rest of
the world.
“The Ebonyi state Government should do something immediately
about the Ezillo - Azuinyaba - Ezzagu road leading to the headquarters of
Inyaba and Inyaba North Development Centres as well as the famous Marist
Comprehensive College Onunweke, Ezzagu; Ishielu LGA Ebonyi State.
"Ezzagu is an
agrarian community and our people are finding it difficult to transport our agricultural
produce to other areas because others are cut off from Afo Ezzagu Regional
Market. We produce food and cash crops such as palm fruits, rice, cassava and
yam in large quantity. Our major problem is that we don’t have good roads. Our
students are cut off from schools, our sick ones and pregnant women are cut off
from health facilities. We don't bury our departed ones during rainy season.
“We are cut off completely during the rainy season and we
suffer dust during dry season. This has been causing so many health challenges
in the area.’’
The residents further called on FG and the Ebonyi state
government to provide other social amenities such as electricity, functional
health centres, telecommunication Services, potable water and standard markets.
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