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Raymond Ozoji, Awka
Edward Obiefuna Ibuzo, the House of Assembly Committee Chairman on Environment and lawmaker representing Onitsha-North 2 state constituency in the state assembly has drawn the attention of relevant authorities to the pitiable conditions of roads in his constituency.
Ibuzo stated that most worrisome was that roads in the area were infested with potholes that were over 20 years old, which he noted, had constituted nightmares and death-traps for people using the roads.
The lawmaker who narrated the ordeals of his constituents due to the conditions of roads in Onitsha-North 2, stressed that he had made several efforts to get the Anambra State Road Maintenance Agency to effect remedial works on the potholes but expressed concern that his efforts had not yielded any positive results because the agency was not forthcoming.
Ibuzo who spoke with NewsProbe in Awka, said there were what he described as careless potholes in his constituency and that some of the potholes might not cost up to N20,000 to fill them but maintained that the potholes were there causing traffic jam due to the rainy season.
He stated that Oguta road Onitsha, GRA Onitsha, Police station Onitsha and some other parts of his constituency had potholes on the roads and that it was most expedient that whoever is the head of the state road maintenance agency should save the roads from total collapse.
The lawmaker who frowned on the communication gap between governnent agencies and constituency representatives, noted that it was wrong for government agencies not to involve state assembly representatives in the choice of projects and executions in their respective localities.
According to him, “We have lack in the chain of command. They should involve representatives of constituencies in anything they are doing. You can just come into my constituency and start doing one thing or the other without even hearing from the person representing that area in the state assembly.
“I have tried to make a call to the office of the Anambra State Road Maintenance Agency to show them areas they need to do for us but you find out that you don’t see nobody. If I see a pothole in a place, who do I call because there are potholes you see you find out that they have been there for more than 20 years.”
The House of Assembly Committee Chairman on Environment also drew the attention of the state ministry of works to the deplorable condition of Akpaka road Onitsha. He said the road in question connects the 7 wards of Onitsha-North 2 state constituency as well as the airport at Umueri Anambra-East local government area.
Though the lawmaker took cognisance of the fact that Governor Willie Obiano had done roads on Allen, Ajasa, Ezenwa and some other streets in the area, he emphasized that Akpaka road was most important to Onitsha-North 2 state constituency and that construction of the road would ease the sufferings of his constituents even as he stressed the need for government agencies to apply scale of preference to determine felt-needs of the people before embarking on any project and why it is absolutely imperative that constituency representatives should be actively involved in project selection and execution.
