Judgement Day

From Paul Osuyi, Asaba

The deplorable condition of Issele-Uku/Onicha-Uku Road in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State has become a source of embarrassment to the people in the locality.

A particular spot on the road, at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, is the worst section, as it has become almost impassable due to deep gullies and ditches created by heavy-duty vehicles passing the route.

Obviously, the Issele-Uku/Onicha-Uku Road was not meant for heavy tonnage vehicles. But the diversion of vehicle traffic from the Onicha-Ugbo/Idumuje-Ugboko because of ongoing rehabilitation work has led to all manner of vehicles plying the route.

Although the road is said to be under contract by the state government, serious efforts have not been made to address the monumental challenge at the NYSC camp portion. As a result of this, some enraged youths had recently prevented the minority leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, from going to his hometown, Onicha-Uku.

The youths, in a viral video, blocked the convoy of the lawmaker, who is seeking a fourth term to represent Aniocha/Oshimili constituency. Elumelu represented the constituency between 2007 and 2015 when he embarked on a failed governorship adventure before staging a return to the Green Chambers of the National Assembly in 2019.

The aggrieved youths said to be from Idumu-Ogo in the said video, accused him of attracting nothing to the community in all the years. Trouble started when the convoy was attempting to navigate through a modest road avoiding the impassable portion at the orientation camp but he was stopped by the youth who were determined to him accountable.

They asked him to name any project and or road that he attracted to the community for the past years he had been their representative. According to the fierce looking youths, “enough is enough, we cannot continue to see our community remain underdeveloped when somebody like you is in government, doing nothing to change the narrative.”

Community sources however informed our correspondent that the youths were on a routine check to stop heavy duty vehicles from plying the road when Elumelu was approaching.

According to one of the sources, two of the youths started making the video when they noticed that it was the lawmaker’s convoy “to give the false impression that he was being stopped from using the route.”

Meanwhile, the state government has apologized to the lawmaker for the action of the aggrieved youths, saying that what they did was mis-directed.

State commissioner for works (urban and highway), Noel Omodon, blamed the contractor handling the rehabilitation project for doubting government resolve to allay his concerns, as well as the diversion of traffic from the Onicha-Ugbo/Idumuje-Ugboko road.

Omodon also said part of the reason for the delay was the need to fix a technical defect discovered by the contractor when he first started working on the road.

According to him, the contractor drew the attention of the state government to the defect, adding that there was need to review the contract to accommodate the correction.

He explained that the correction entailed diverting flood water at the lowest point of the road through Captain Nwosu Street into a channel by the Issele-Uku/Idumuje-Unor road.

“We want to really appreciate the minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu. He is a very strong and supportive person. He has been very supportive. He is not the kind of person who sits down and waits until a miracle happens. He will always reach out. For all the work he has been doing in that area, we are quite appreciative, and we want to assure him that we will not let our guards down.

“Elumelu has been very assertive about getting the problem sorted out, and he has done a lot, very frankly, but we just feel that we are letting him down because the contracting firm was not following up with his pace. But I hope we are not causing him too much embarrassment.

“We shall definitely catch up with him. We regret the embarrassment it must have caused him, but it is very unfair for the people not to realise that he is doing a lot for them,” Omodon said.

He strongly condemned the action of Idumu-Ogo youths, arguing that it is sad and unfair of those individuals not to recognise the good deeds the minority leader has been doing.

Omodon added that the contractor returned to the job site and that work on the drains along Captain Nwosu Street has officially started.

The commissioner assured that the contractor will have everything they need to complete the project, adding that due to the rain, sharp sand was approved for sand filling rather than laterite.

“We are going to try very hard to ensure that we deliver all the roads, including the palliative work the state government is doing at the Onicha-Ugbo/Idumuje-Ugboko road. It is a federal government road, but we are working on it,” he stated.

He said efforts are being made to activate and open up the ongoing Onicha-Ugbo/Idumuje-Ugboko Road with a view to allowing traffic from Idumuje-Ugboko down to the Benin/Asaba Expressway.

“Our problem is that they are shifting all the traffic to Issele-Uku and that is not fair. Our roads there are not meant for such heavy traffic where heavy duty vehicles ply the road often.

“We are discussing with our contractors handling the Onicha-Ugbo/dumuje-Ugboko road palliative work whether they can bring in boulders and granites for us to seal off the bad portion along the ongoing project and allow movement of vehicles. It is going to cost us a lot, but we are committed to doing it.

“We are very sympathetic with the pains the people of Aniocha North, particularly the people of Issele-Uku and Onicha-Uku, have to go through as a result of the road.

“Everybody is embarrassed about it, and I hope to get all the heavy duty vehicles out of Issele-Uku in the shortest possible time,” he said.