The interim national secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John James Udoedehe has expressed regret over the poor state of the Itu-Calabar highway which links Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.
Udoedehe who said he spent eight hours on the road for a journey that should be less than one and a half hours blamed the inability of the federal government to construct the road estimated to be about 130 kilometres on the paucity of funds and competing demands.
Udoedehe who was addressing journalists in Uyo, the Akwa state capital was answering a reporter’s question on the deplorable state of the Itu-Calabar highway.
“I was on that road for eight hours. I told people that I am coming to Akwa Ibom, people went and crowded the airport during the COVID-19; so to avoid breaking COVID-19 protocol, I used Calabar and ended up on that road for about eight hours.”
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“Recently the Obong of Calabar and his council went and met with the President and spoke about the road. From our end, we are doing personal consultation and pleading with the President for that road. Every honest person would not shy away from admitting that the road is in a deplorable state.”
“The decay of infrastructure all over Nigeria is known, but we have the problem of funds. When the APC came at oil price dropped; we had an economic recession and then the COVID-19 pandemic. I would have loved Calabar-Itu road to be dualized, I would have loved it to be in perfect shape, but in politics, there are so many forces competing for attention.”
They have reported that the federal government had awarded a contract for the dualization of a section of the highway in 2018 but work has yet to commence.
Motorists and commuters have decried the deplorable condition of the road which has been blamed for the significant rise in transportation fare on food items between Akwa Ibom and Cross River State.
Udoedehe who also denied reports that the party has been split into factions in the state following its poor showing in last year’s general elections said APC is intact after the reconciliation exercise.
“Don’t count interest of aspiration to be conflict. If a person wants to be governor and I also want to be governor, that’s interest. It does not mean that there is conflict in the party. The party is united. I, Akpabio, Ita Enang, Umana Umana, we are united and intact”, he said.
