* Ohanaeze youths furious, ask Fashola to resign
Worried by the conditions two Federal road contracts, namely Enugu-Port Harcourt and the Aba-Ikot Ekpene highways, and hardship they bring to road users, Abia State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has directed the contractors handling the projects to return to site on or before November 20.
Ikpeazu said the State government would be forced to take over the reconstruction of certain critical Abia portions of those roads if the contractors failed to comply with the directive.
Describing the condition of the roads along with that of Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene as impassable, Ikpeazu said it has adversely affected the livelihoods of Abia people and interstate commuters.
Ikpeazu stressed that good roads are like oxygen that drive the life of trade and commerce, which he said is one of the key pillars of his administration.
He also directed the contractors handling the State road projects to do expedite their execution, and directed the commissioners for Works and Finance to henceforth pay contractors handling various road projects in the State according to the mileage achieved.
He warned that his administration would no longer condone indolence from contractors.
Meanwhile, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC) has berated the Federal government over failure to execute most of its approved road projects in the South-East geopolitical zone.
The Igbo group called on the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, to resign for allegedly undermining most of the infrastructural projects approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), for execution in the region.
Ohanaeze youths lamented the pains commuters suffer while plying the dilapidated roads in the region, calling on the Federal government to take urgent steps in fixing the roads for easy transportation of agricultural products as it has given motorists undue advantage in hiking transportation fares.
OYC made its position known in a statement by its President-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, on Saturday.
He said: “It has come to the knowledge of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC) that there are attempts to sabotage the approval for the dualization and rehabilitation of deplorable roads by the Federal Executive Council, FEC during it’s a valedictory session held in May 2019.
“The roads approved by FEC were the dualization and rehabilitation of Aba-Ikot Ekpene Expressway, dualization and rehabilitation of Umuahia/Ikot Ekpene, dualization and expansion of Owerri-Aba, rehabilitation of Okigwe-Ideato-Akokwa-Onitsha Expressway, and the last not the least, rehabilitation of Abeaomege-Ugehi Expressway. It was pronounced by the Minister of Works, Babatunde Raji Fashola. Igbo youths call on President Muhammadu Buhari to give a presidential order to relieve difficulties and hellish experience commuters face while plying these federal roads.
“The bad state of these roads have given some motorists undue advantage whereby hiking transportation fares in the conveyance of agricultural products. The most significant of these roads is the Aba axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway which has made the popular Ariaria International Markets inaccessible and impassable. We also call on Mr. President as Igbo leadership, as a matter of urgency, to let work commence on these roads to avert any protests around the corner. Also, Fashola should resign immediately or the Minister will be made to face legal action for undermining those approved dualizations and rehabilitation of dilapidated federal roads in the South-East geopolitical zone”.