Sign post of the abandoned Orie Engin – Obunofia Ndiagu – Aguobu-Umumba federal toad project that brought in erosionenace to the communities.
*FG, construction company keep mum
By Daniel Tyokua
Anger, despair and despondency appear to have enveloped several communities in Ezeagu/Udi Federal Constituency in Enugu State following an abandoned federal road project awarded to the CGC Nigeria Limited, a Chinese company over eight years ago.
Already, several public buildings, private property, recreation ground and other social amenity projects have been washed off by the menacing erosion which has taken over the abandoned road project.
Recall that the federal government had on August, 2018 listed 69 on-going road and bridge projects in the South-East without capturing this particular abandoned road project.
Leaders of the affected communities in the area, told The AUTHORITY that the Orie-Engen, Aguobu Umumba – Okposi-Obinofia Ndiagu – Ugwuoba expressroad was awarded by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing several years ago with only the initial earth work and excavation carried out by the contractors before abandoning the road project.
The contract which was awarded to CGC Nigeria Limited, but the community leaders provided pictorial evidence that the road had become a dead trap. They showed evidence of several residential buildings almost caving in to the deep gully created along the long stretch of excavated portions of the road project and which had been abandoned.
They also provided pictures of three primary schools which they said were built through community effort, and not by any government, as well as community water project and recreation halls and play ground, which had already been destroyed and washed off by the ravaging erosion in the area.
They pleaded that except government immediately intervenes, their lives are in danger as the abandoned project had brought in unimaginable ecological problems to the area.
“This abandoned road project is about eight years old, but we cannot understand what is the real issues that made it get abandoned. We have been complaining, yet no positive action has been taken from any quota” Chief Edwin Eze, a community leader from Obunofia community said.
Another community leader from Aguobu-Umumba, Chief Ikechukwu Otiji lamented that government is punishing their illustrious son, Igwe Augustine Otiji, whose exhibited sterling and excellent services to the nation while he was the Managing Director of NITEL.
According to him, “can you imagine that Igwe Otiji is now forced to use either okada or walk all through these length of several kilometers to his home, except he goes round through Aguobu-Owa. We never knew the federal government can punish such a nice man like that in his life time”.
Yet, Dr. Fabian Okeke, an indigene of Obunofia Ndiagu said that it is amazing that the federal government would open up an area where there had never been erosion menace and let people suffer as we are being made to pass through due to no fault of ours”.
The AUTHORITY investigations showed that a former House of Representatives member for Ezeagu/Udi Federal Constituency, Hon. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, attracted the project, but it is seemingly a “dead project”.
Efforts by The AUTHORITY to get CGC to speak on the abandoned project failed as neither the Public Relations Officer, nor the General Manager accepted to speak with our correspondents despite several visits and noted dropped with the security at their Kubwa Road, Abuja head office.
Also, the Assistant Director (Press Affairs) at the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr. Henry David, refused to respond to the several text messages sent to him on the matter. He simply said: “I have submitted your enquiry to the department in-charge and when they get back to me, I will see you”.
