Collapsed Road In Akwa Ibom Stalls InterState Businesses

For residents of Ekit Itam 2 and Mbak Itam 3 axis, a commercial hub for palm oil, timber, jewelries and other ornamental items, it’s all lamentations.

The once bubbling trading outpost mostly dominated by the Hausa/Fulani dealers in Itu local government area of Akwa Ibom State, has given way to a dull, drab and total lull in socio-economic economic activities.

According to Chima Nkemdirim, a palm oil merchant, the ever-busy corridor for livestock and other edibles like onions, beans, potatoes, pepper melon, corn and others mostly ferried into the Hausa/Fulani community popularly called

“Nasarawa”, is fast wearing away amid heavy flooding occasioned by the consistent rainfall.

The only access road overlooking the Ibom Specialty Hospital, LEADERSHIP checks revealed, is in a state of total collapse, leaving the residents, traders and motorists in anguish, having stuck in the heavy traffic snarl for hours.

“The road, which hosts some of the biggest commercial entities on the fringes of the Uyo metropolis including the Itam Timber Market, the popular Nasarawa Market (Hausa Market), the Palm Oil Market and several transport businesses has been destroyed by the constant and unregulated activities of heavy-duty trucks compounding the only access road already wreaked by floods,” Udoette Akang, a local resident lamented.

“These trucks, conveying livestock, onions, tomatoes, grains and other goods from the northern part of the country, now use the roadside as an offloading bay, turning the entire stretch into an impromptu trailer park.

“The results are these failed portions, stagnant water, waste and pollution as well as unbearable stench that has made life difficult for the people of Ekit Itam 2 and Mbak Itam 3,” Ifiokobong Ekanem, another residents noted.

However, residents and business owners expressed concerns that the area, despite being a major business hub, has been abandoned to its fate by government and the lawmakers from Itu, especially the Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. KufreAbasi Edidem.

They also accused the House of Representatives member representing the area, Rt. Hon. Ime Okon, for neglecting his area of abode, as his personal residence, according to them, is located within the axis.

Commending Governor Umo Eno, for what they described as liberal disposition to leadership by also appointing non – indigenes including Hausa/Fulani and Igbo, into his administration, Abubakar Umar, a lifestok dealer, urged the appointees to extend their appeals to the Governor, “for urgent intervention.’

“We cannot have easy access to take our goods from the Northern Nigeria into the market because of the very bad nature of the road. We cannot also move essential goods here especially palm oil to the Northern markets,” Abdullahi Inua, from Adamawa State, lamented.

“We are appealing to our representatives in the compassionate Governor Umo Eno’s administration to help us pass the appeals to the Governor for intervention,” he added.

Mr. Edet Effiong, a resident of Mbak Itam 3, also decried the environmental pollution and health hazard posed by the hazardous emissions from the trapped heavy – duty vehicles.

“This road is worst during the rainy season. You cannot pass without being extra careful. The pollution from the waste here is too much. We are breathing bad air every day. Government should come and help us,” Effiong said.

In the same vein, a businessman, Mr. Emeka Okafor, recounted how the deplorable state of the road has crippled economic activities.

“My business has gone down because customers cannot access my shop. Vehicles break down here every day because of the bad road. We are losing money. The government should build a lorry park where all these businesses coming from the north can operate, so that this road can be free,” Okafor appealed.

Similarly, Mrs. Imaobong Udo, a palm oil seller at Itam Oil Market, said the bad road has affected the health and livelihood of women traders in the area.

“We women are suffering. When it rains, we cannot sell because everywhere is flooded and smelling. Our children fall sick because of the dirty environment. We are appealing to Governor Umo Eno to help us reconstruct this road and take these trailers to a proper park. If Nasarawa is relocated, this place will be clean again,” she said.