GOVERNMENT OF IMO STATE
PRESS RELEASE
The Executive Governor of Imo State, His Excellency, Owelle Rochas Okorocha wishes to lament over the worrisome and indeed, the deplorable condition of the Umuapu Imo State area of the Port-Harcourt – Owerri Express road.
The road has become a glaring death trap with some Imo indigenes and some other people losing their lives either through accidents or armed robbery attacks that occur on that part of the road almost on daily basis. With every sense of responsibility the Federal Government is called upon to fix the road without further delay to save Imo people and other road users from further deaths.
The Imo State Governor frowns at a situation where the contractor handling a major project like the Port Harcourt / Owerri express road could get to the point where the road connects Imo State and stopped, and since then, nobody has seen the need for that part of the road to be done so that the people of the State and other users can enjoy it.
The governor does not believe that the contractor stopping the road at Umuapu area which is in Imo State is political like it is being insinuated in some quarters, because all Nigerians irrespective of their political affiliations use the road, but it is avowedly regrettable that the contractor doing the road could get to Imo State side of the project and stopped work for quite a long time now.
The attendant implication is that, the area has become not only a nightmare but a death trap, so much that, Imo people now go to Port Harcourt through Aba in Abia State which is also another story of itself. The Umuapu area in question is better seen than imagined and it is a federal government road. That is why some people are beginning to read political meaning into the whole scenario.
The most annoying aspect of the whole story is that there are Imo sons and daughters in Abuja who claim to be very close to the presidency or to the Federal Government and even those who claim to be power brokers at the National Assembly, and they could not influence anything with regard to the disturbing condition of the road under reference. And they pass through the road very often and none of them could muster the courage to talk about it.
To say the least, it calls for concern that a contractor handling a major road like the Port Harcourt/Owerri road could get to the Imo State side of the road and abandoned it and nobody seems to care about the development because it is Imo people and those from the State who drop the name of Mr. President in the State for one reason or the other, cannot use their over-estimated political muscles to ensure that the contractor goes back to the road and complete the job.
When the road is completed the government and people of Imo State will be happy and the commendations will go to the Federal Government. We need to be saved from the inconveniences the road have continued to cause Imo people in particular and the public in general.
That was also the case with the Aba/Owerri road until the governor, Owelle Okorocha began to fix the road, and he was almost at the airport junction when the Federal Government was alerted that the Imo State Government was working on the road and it hurriedly gave out the contract for the road.
It is important to remind Imo sons and daughters who drop the name of Mr. President on every slightest issue to bring that connection to bear by influencing things to ensure that the Umuapu side of Port Harcourt/Owerri road is fixed without further delay to halt further deaths and armed robbery attacks on that side of the road.
