By Jude Chukwuemeka
A common complaint about infrastructure in Nigeria is that of bad roads, which make road travels a hectic task, and causes millions of naira loss to businesses every year.
This issue has received the attention of the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who, on Sunday pledged to initiate a bill aimed at setting up dedicated fund to address the issue of road construction and maintenance in the country.
As clearly seen, most major roads within the South-east geopolitical zone of the country have become death traps, where road users waste several hours on roads which ordinarily should take fewer hours.
The Okigwe-Umuahia end of the Enugu-Port-Harcourt expressway has clearly become impassable. Also, the Enugu-Onitsha expressway has totally collapsed making motorists to now rely on the old road, Udi-Ugwuoba road, constructed by the Enugu State Government for their travels. The Okigwe-Owerri road has also collapsed. The situation has made the zone to become totally locked as road users continue to complain.
But, Ekweremadu, who addressed the people of Oha-Ndiagu in Ezeagu Local Government Area of the state said addressing the problem of road network in the zone in particular and the country at large required concerted efforts from all the three tiers of government.
He lamented the situation where bad roads continue to hamper the evacuation of farm produce from the local communities.
“I will prepare a bill to address the issues of poor road network in the country. The bill will seek to establish a dedicated fund for roads construction and maintenance in the country.
He further stated that the state government would soon commence the award of contracts to address most of the road challenges existing in the rural areas of the state, stressing that the poor state of rural roads in the state is unacceptable.
Earlier, the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Ezeagu Local Government Area, Chief Chris Ohagwu, had asked the deputy senate president to in his usual manner, impress it on the relevant government agencies to address the bad state of the Enugu-9th Mile-Onitsha express road, the Oha-Ndiagu and other rural roads in the area.
Adapted from Thisday
