By Alphonsus Nweze, Onitsha
Commuters and other users of the Asaba -Onitsha Expressway have cried to President Bola Tinubu and Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State to come to their immediate rescue by comprehensively rehabilitating the failed portions of the road which have subjected them to daily hellish experience.
Some of the drivers and commuters who spoke to us decried the level of suffering they have been going through on daily basis since the collapse of the road for almost two years now running, causing heavy and daily traffic gridlock that holds travellers for days and equally destroys their vehicles and goods.
Some portions of the road that failed include the Ezenei Junction by Chinedu Oko shopping plazas, SIO industry, Okwe and Old Federal Road Safety office.
Mr. Christopher Osadolor who operates Agbor – Onitsha bus pouring out his emotion over the deplorable state of the road said that his grievances stemmed from the fact that they went through this harrowing experience last year during the rainy season and many hoped that before this year’s rainfall either the Federal Government or the State Government would have carried out a comprehensive repair of the road if not for anything but for its strategic economic importance .
The road apart from linking the South East and South South with the South West and some parts of North Central is the major link for traders from various towns and communities in Delta, Edo, some parts of Kogi and Ondo States who daily go to the Onitsha markets to engage in commercial activities for their survival and that of their families.
Osadolor said ”no responsible and responsive governments” should allow this kind of critical road to go into dilapidation.
Regrettably, he said, since last year’s rainy season neither the Delta State Ministry of Works, the office of the Governor of Delta State, the Federal Ministry of Works nor the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has done any serious job till this rainy season again.
The lack of repair, he lamented, had increased the suffering of the users both economically and health wise, saying for them the drivers and their passengers it has been huge economic lose for them.
He explained that the Delta State Ministry of Works at the inception of the rainy season did some palliative work on the road but it was not far reaching enough, leading to the current deplorable state with vehicles almost find impossible to pass through the dilapidated road.This, Osadolor decried, has subjected users of the road to untold hardship.
“Each time you want to come to Onitsha and you remember the road, you are downcast because you will be thinking how can negotiate out of this bad portion of the road”, he said.
He continued the lamentation: “What the economic loss, the fuel you will waste, the wear and tear in your vehicle. But for those who drives big vehicles like trailers and tankers it is even worse because several times their vehicles have fell causing huge financial lose”.
One lane of the road has so much deteriorated that vehicle hardly pass through it, leaving the second lane which also bad to bear the brunt.
Many articulated and other big vehicles laden with goods had fallen on the roads with goods worth several hundreds of millions destroyed on these failed portions of the road.
Companies, traders and individuals making use of the roads have been counting their losses as some of these vehicles when got stocked with the goods even evacuating and trans-loading them become almost impossible.
The second lane being used has also almost gone impassable coupled with l the fact that all vehicles compete for right of way in one lane now and this cause terrible traffic gridlock.
Smaller vehicles such as cars and buses now avoid the bad spots at Ezenei Avenue Junction by diverting into roads inside Asaba and sometimes this caused chaotic traffic gridlock in some strategic streets and junctions in the capital town.
This is equally causing the failing of the roads inside Asaba town due the high number of vehicles and bigger vehicles like semi-trucks that ply the road as they put extra pressure on the local roads.
A trailer driver, Mr Johnson Okorie, said that the failure of the Asaba -Onitsha Expressway especially at Ezenei Junction, Road Safety, SIO and Okwe Junction is a clear failure of various governments in Nigeria.
He argued that although the road is a Federal road, the Delta State Government should have done a comprehensive repair on it because most of the users and beneficiaries of the Expressway are Delta State citizens or those who engage in economic activities in the State.
Okorie said, the road is very critical to the economy of Delta State and therefore should not be waiting for the Federal Government.
Efforts to get officials of the Federal Ministry of Works in Asaba, FERMA and Delta State Ministry of Works, Urban failed.
But a source close to FERMA who didn’t want his name mentioned blamed their poor or lack of response in rehabilitating the road to limited fund and priorities of governments.
Some of the agencies’ budget, he said, cannot handle such big rehabilitating work and when they request for money from headquarters, Government House or presidency the excuse has always been lack of fund.
But many of our respondents dismissed lack of response as lame excuse, insensitivity and a clear failure of leadership.
*Culled from Apex News Exclusive
