By Cosmas Omegoh
A Save-Our-Souls message has gone out to the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Raji Babatunde Fashola, to as a matter of urgency respond and repair a portion of the Onitsha-Owerri expressway which collapsed yesterday as a result of flash flood occasioned by heavy rains.
An Ohanaeze chieftain and onetime president of Aka Ikenga, Chief Goody Uwazuruike who issued the urgent call said the disaster occurred in front of the Metallurgical Training Institute close to Onitsha. He charged the Federal Government to mobilise to the site so that people from the South East and South-South regions will not be cut off.
Making the call as the president of the Cultural Credibility Development Initiative (CCDI) Chief Uwazuruike a lawyer supported his claim with a video of the road which has long gone viral. He said: “This is a call on the Hon Minister, Mr Raji Babatunde Fashola, to without delay repair the dilapidated Onitsha-Owerri road particularly at the Metallurgical junction.
“Today, this road is a present and looming danger to anyone passing through it.
“In a sentence, the Onitsha-Owerri road has been divided into two. Need I remind the honourable minister that this road is crucial to the network of roads leading to the Economic Golden Egg of Nigeria?
Your Excellency, we wish to inform you that the roads in Igboland are so dilapidated that road transportation has crumbled beyond description.
“As a former governor of Lagos State, you performed very well in the provision and maintenance of good roads. We believe that you can repeat this feat on Onitsha-Enugu road, Enugu-Port Harcourt road, Ihiala- Mbano-Umuahia road, the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene road, the Aboh-Anioma road, the Umuahia-Arochukwu road, the Uturu-Afikpo road, the Owerri-Mbaise-Obowo roads, the Aba-Ikot Ekpene road and the 9th Mile-Benue border road.”
Then he added: “Your Excellency, your good name will go down the drain if you do not urgently rise to the occasion.”