Imo youths protest deplorable state of Owerri-Port Harcourt expressway, others

Uzodimma assures of fixing Avu-Ohaji-Egbema road
Aggrieved youths from Ohaji/Egbema Local Council of Imo State, have protested the deplorable condition of Owerri- Port Harcourt expressway and other surrounding roads.

The protest left travellers along Owerri- Port Harcourt road, Avu – Obosima Umunwaku road, Ada-palm- Etekwuru road in Ohaji -Egbema Local Council of the state stranded for several hours.

The angry youths carried placards of various inscriptions, which include; “SOS Avu – Obosima Umunwaku road, Ada-palm- Etekwuru road in Ohaji –Egbema, Governor Hope Uzodinma, Attention: Avu – Obosima Umunwaku road, Ada-palm- Etekwuru road in Ohaji -Egbema has become dead zone and others.”

They called on President Muhammadu Buhari, governors of Southeast regions and Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, to urgently rehabilitate the roads as they have turned death traps to commuters.

Spokesperson for the protesters, Emmanuel Ugorji said: “The suffering is too much that our people are very aggrieved right now.

“The thought of approaching rainy season this year without any form of work on the Avu- Adapalm Road is making us enraged. There had been so much anger induced by horrible experiences on the road. You will agree with us that restiveness and agitation is always as a result of neglected plights/interest of a people.”

Ugorji said many letters have been written informing the state government what Avu, Obosima, Umunwaku, Ohoba autonomous communities have been going through due to the deplorable condition of the Avu-Adapalm road.

“We have lost lives and we are losing work hours on a daily basis along Avu – Obosima Umunwaku road, Ada-palm- Etekwuru roads.

The cost of car repairs is much; transport fare is also on the rise; it has also increased the cost of goods as market women now add the cost of transporting goods to the cost of selling.

“We want the state government to fix these state roads and we have given him a list of roads we want him to fix. Our message is very clear, ” he added.

MEANWHILE, Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma has assured of quick intervention on the poor state of road linking Avu-Ohaji-Egbema to reduce the hardship which the people have been subjected to in the past 20 years.

Speaking through his Chief of Staff, Nnamdi Anyaehie, the Governor promised that a contractor will be mobilised in the next seven days to the site.

Anyaehie said from his interaction with the protesting youths, he “saw genuine demands that cannot be ignored and assuaged them by fraternising with them and assured them that the Governor had already awarded the road to a reputable “

The Chief of Staff appealled to Imo people, especially the youths, to exercise patience with the Government in all sectors “because the Governor is doing everything within the available resources to ensure that Government provides infrastructure to all parts of the State, especially the oil producing LGA that are the hen that lays the golden eggs.”

He also thanked the youths for being peaceful in their protest, promising on behalf of the Governor that “the Government will never forget or neglect them in the scheme of things.”