 |
| Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin; President, Campaign For Democracy |
Report By: Dede Uzor A. Uzor
The Campaign for Democracy
(CD), South-East region has lamented the lack of Federal Government projects to
be commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan during his working tour to
Anambra on Thursday, August 30.
This was contained in a
statement issued by the group to newsmen in Onitsha in Anambra State.
The statement was signed by Dede
Uzor A. Uzor and Dr. Jerry Chukwuokolo, who are the chairman and secretary of the
South-East region of the group respectively.
The statement said that the president
had disappointed over 70 million South-Easterners who massively voted him during
the 2011 presidential election.
The statement further frowns
at the on-going work at the Onitsha River Port, which had not reached up to 50 per cent completion.
``We wonder what he is going
to commission outside the private companies of some individuals and groups like
SAB-Miller Breweries, Orange Drugs soap factory, Kristoral Nigeria Limited
among others’’.
``We are also surprise that up
till now there had been no feasibility study on the promise 2nd Niger Bridge and it seems to us that it is a mirage again.
``About three presidents had promised
the South-Easterners the building of the 2nd Niger Bridge, even former President Olusegun
Obasanjo also commissioned it without a single record of the commissioning in government
files,’’ it said.
The statement also decried the
deplorable condition of the South-East Federal roads; which is like Somalian roads,
with deadly potholes and extended ditches.
``The road condition had
killed more people than the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northern part of the
country.
``Statistics shows that out
of the about 8,750 kilometres of federal truck A roads in the country; the South-East
have about 3,480 kilometres.
``And only about 980 kilometres are motorable, while over 2,500 kilometres are death traps and near-to-hell ditches.
``In the last two years, from
Feb. 2010 to date over 1,223 innocent lives had been lost as a result of
ghastly motor accidents associated with bad roads within the zone.
``The bad road had claimed 82
lives, which included 20 school children going to excursion in Sept. 2010 when
a fuel-laden tanker exploded at Odumodu-Umunya junction along the Onitsha-Awka-Enugu
road,’’ it said.
The statement said that the group
was calling on the president to declare state-of-emergency on South-East roads especially
the Onitsha-Awka-Enugu road.
``A journey, which should take
less than 30 minutes from Onitsha to Awka, would how consume about 3 hours and
20 minutes due to the deplorable condition of the road,’’ it said.
It also called for the re-awarding
of the abandoned federal road at Owerri-Amaifeke-Mgbee-Orlu road, which also
leads to Anambra; adding that the road and Ferdinand Oil factory had been submerged
by erosion.
``The road was abandoned in
1983 by Niger Cat and BCC construction companies,’’ it said.
