By Precious Onuoha, FUTO

IN the heart of Africa, a country of contrast, the Eastern heartland, heart-warming technology, rich culture, renowned art, abundant natural resources, feel the unity, feel the affection, feel the peace, welcome to Imo state, to the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, and the uniqueness of its students.

The best higher institution nationwide with students of diverse colours, cultures and backgrounds.

These undergraduates now take FUTO to be their second home since they spend almost a year in school for an academic year.

In FUTO, our host communities include: Ihiagwa, Eziobodo and Umuchima villages. Transporting ourselves to school every morning from our various lodges is an added financial burden.

Regarding it as a financial burden is an under-statement as we are now faced with the challenge of paying double the amount what we used to pay, getting soiled before we get to school, having to beg the bikemen to go our way, being attacked on lonely track roads by hoodlums during late evenings, “travelling” to Owerri town for about an hour against the conventional 20 minutes to get to town.

The deplorable state of our FUTO roads is quite pitiable. Its mere sight is an eyesore. Before now, everyone was plying our motorable FUTO roads- students, lecturers, villagers, non-indigene inhabitants, visitors, passers-by, non-academic staff, the university’s vice-chancellor, his entourage, other senate colleagues and many others.

Everything was okay because the roads were still motorable and manageable. We sang a different song altogether even before the rains came this year, precisely during our first academic semester of year 2013.

All hands were crossed, awaiting the rehabilitation of the deteriorating roads not knowing that we were wasting our precious time. All we saw were mounds of red mud that made the roads sticky and worse. After the break in-between the two semesters, students came back to school for the final lap of the 2013 academic year, with high hopes that the roads must have been worked on. To our greatest surprise, the reverse was the case. Infact, they were worse than before.

It got to a point that we were now making use of long lonely track roads to and fro school. Hell was let loose as students had so many challenges to contend with: exhorbitant bike fares, getting soiled while on bike and having the extra stress of going back home to change, lengthened time/duration on the road, missing the first part of their lectures every day, trekking and sweating to school each morning for those who cannot afford the exhorbitant fares.