BY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA — MOTORISTS and other road users of the busy Federal Government-owned Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene road are lamenting the massive dilapidation of the road.

The entire stretch of the road from Ikwuano in Abia State to Ikot Ekpene is in very sorry state and has been causing motorists sleepless nights.
Incidentally, the road is the only one linking Umuahia and Ikot Ekpene to Uyo and Calabar, except Aba-Ikot Ekpene route, which is a much longer stretch.

Last year, Federal Emergency Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, did some work on the road which had since been washed away, subjecting road users to serious hardship.
Because of the bad state of the road, articulated trucks conveying cement from Calabar to some parts of the East usually fell, and worsened the situations.

There were even occasions when people in communities along this busy road had to abandon their vehicles overnights.
“We can’t believe that this is a federal road, a very busy one for that. Look at what we are going through in a nation that has enormous resources” a commuter, Asuquo, who was on his way to Abuja from Uyo lamented.”