• Explains N10b diversion to road construction in Abia
• Edo LG residents commend road reconstruction

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, representing Bende Constituency in Abia State, Benjamin Kalu, has said that when the Supreme Court passes a verdict and makes an order, such ought to be complied with and obeyed by all concerned.

He said this at his Bende country home at the weekend during an interactive session with journalists who posed the question on the non-implementation of the local council financial autonomy against the Supreme Court ruling.

He said: “When the Supreme Court makes an order, it must be obeyed to the letter; hence, I expect that states shall comply fully.”

He absolved President Bola Tinubu from the development, stating that the President’s position is that the Supreme Court ruling ought to be implemented.

Meanwhile, the hope of reconstructing the Umuahia-Ohafia federal road that passes through the Deputy Speaker’s Bende community has become more real.

Kalu told journalists that the N10 billion approval he facilitated for the reconstruction of the road has been diverted to the construction of another road in his Bende constituency, following the Federal Government’s later decision that the reconstruction of the said Umuahia to Ohafia road be included among the roads that the Abia State government is to undertake and get reimbursed thereafter.

He said: “The Minister of Works, David Umahi, informed me of the agreement between the federal and Abia State governments for the reconstruction of the Umuahia to Ohafia road. So, the N10 billion I earlier facilitated for this was later redirected to the construction of new roads in Bende.”

Kalu had vowed to his constituents and Abians that he would do all in his capacity to actualise the rehabilitation of this decades-old critical but dilapidated Umuahia–Bende–Ohafia federal road, adding that the rehabilitation of more than 20 other road projects in his Bende Constituency had been done, even as many others are currently being addressed.
Meanwhile, residents of Egor Local Council Area of Edo State, yesterday, expressed delight over the ongoing road reconstruction and rehabilitation in the area, saying it will boost local access and economy in the council.

The residents described the intervention as timely, people-focused, and long overdue, adding that the intervention has rescued property owners and landlords.