By Abasi Ita, Calabar
Cross River Governor Senator Bassey Otu has decried perennial neglect attributable to poor funding suffered by the East-West Road since the commencement of the road project over two decades decade ago despite its socio-economic value to the country.
Governor Otu who bared his mind while receiving the Senate Adhoc Committee on the East-West Road led by Senator Abdul Nengi on Tuesday in Calabar harped on the need for adequate funding of the road project and commended the Upper Legislature for its concerted efforts towards the completion of the East-West Road.
According to Otu; “The East-West Road is one of the several critical infrastructures that have been left to decay in our country over time. Even in this period of palliatives, if there is anything worse than not having the palliatives, then it is when the main arteries that connect the state and should help in carrying the palliatives are not there.”
Governor Otu who drew attention to the critical need for modifications to be effected in the East-West Road designs about the Calabar axis stressed that the adjustment is needed to avoid traffic snarl as witnessed in some major cities in the country.
He lamented the deplorable state of federal roads in Cross River citing Calabar Ikom Ogoja and Calabar Itu roads and expressed optimism that the President Tinubu administration will rise to the occasion and provide the much-needed infrastructural repairs and upgrade to ameliorate prevailing hardship being experienced by motorists plying the routes.
The Governor noted that Cross River state has gone through ordeals arising from the Green Tree Treaty which ceded part of the state to a foreign country leading to the controversial loss of its littoral status and assets.
“We have borne and still bearing the pains of the country over the Green Tree Agreement and it is only fair that Nigeria does right to our state. We need more interventions and I hope that your committee, though ad-hoc in nature, will present our case to the Senate and ease our burden,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, Senator Ningi said the East-West Road which was conceived as a symbol of fairness and justice to a major economic hub of the country has not met that aspiration even by four succeeding presidents from Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yarádua, Goodluck Jonathan, and Muhammadu Buhari.
“We have traversed the East-West Road from Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and now Cross River, it is disturbing what we have found in the course of this assignment, the inability of the overseeing agencies of government to come together and give the road the much-needed attention is worrisome”
“There is a complete lack of synergy between the NDDC, Federal Ministry of Works, FERMA, and the states which the road passes through.
“After the first leg of this assignment, we are going to have a 2-day public hearing on why the East-West Road has remained as it is uncompleted. Who are the contractors, what have they received, so that people will not just collect money from the federal government and disappear,” Ningi posited.
On the horrible state of the Calabar-Itu Highway, Senator Ningi said, “I have never seen and experienced what we saw on that road anywhere. Thousands of trucks were tucked in traffic with little or no motion. If we didn’t have the military with us and even at that, we would spend over six hours on a major highway.
“So, I believe that something urgent needs to be done including the fifth and final stage of the East-West Road which is the Calabar-Oron end of the road.
“Yes there is infrastructural deficit across the country, but what we witnessed, was something else on that road.”
Senator Ningi applauded Governor Otu for his people-first mantra and expressed the hope that he will bring his legislative experience to bear in the running of the state and appealed to Cross Riverians to give the governor the much-needed support to succeed.
Other members of the team included Senator Ikra Bilbis, the clerk of the committee, Foluke Ogunbayo, and the South-South Zonal Director of Federal Minithe Stry of Works, Engr. Clement Ogbuagu,