Again, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is to rescue the federal highway between Itu in Akwa Ibom State and Calabar in Cross River State, where lawmakers visiting eastern ports got trapped few months ago.
This as the pledge to rescue the Oyibo Road across Imo River remained same long after the Ibim Semenitari interim era that started it, and the recent pledge by another interim CEO, Nelson Brambaifa, to rescue the Igwuruta-Okehi Okpala Road got only a scratch.
The NDDC currently headed by another interim CEO, Joi Nunieh, says it will collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to repair the failed sections of the Itu-Calabar highway, the only road linking Cross River and Akwa Ibom States.
Speaking after inspecting some bad spots at Itu in Cross Rivers State on Thursday, November 21, 2019, Nunieh said the poor condition of the road called for urgent action. Semenitari won awards and hearts in Cross River when she fought the Itu Road that make the Cross River economy strong due to the trucking and rock industry.
Nunieh, who was represented by the Acting Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Ibanga Bassey Etang, and the Acting Executive Director, Projects, Cairo Ojougboh, assured that the NDDC would make efforts to make the road useable for the Christmas season.
Etang said: “The road is very bad. A journey that would have taken like one hour from Uyo to Calabar now takes several hours.”
He noted, however, that the Federal Government had awarded a contract for the reconstruction of the Calabar-Odukpani-Itu-Ikot Ekpene federal highway, adding: “We have decided to interface with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to see how we can alleviate the sufferings of our people, since this is one of our catchment areas.
“We need to do something quickly because Christmas is fast approaching. We will try as much as we can to make sure we do our best so that people can use this road during the Christmas season.”
A truck driver heading to Port Harcourt from Calabar, Uche Egwuonwu, lamented that his truck fell down at the Itu end because of the deplorable state of the road. He appealed for the urgent intervention of the Federal Government and its agencies.
The NDDC team also inspected the on-going construction of the Emen Ndiya Road in Eket Local Government Area, where they were informed that the contract was awarded in 2012.
Etang observed that work on the project had resumed apparently because of the forensic audit ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He advised other contractors working for the NDDC to go back to site to execute the jobs given to them by the Commission, warning: “If you have a job with the NDDC, you must execute it promptly or face the consequences.”
A representative of the contractor, Benjamin Joshua, told the NDDC team that the project would be completed within three months.
