UPDATED: A’Ibom lawmaker seeks adequate funding for Calabar federal highway
The member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly representing Ibiono Ibom State constituency, Moses Essien has appealed to the federal government to increase funding for the Calabar-Itu-road project and ensure it is timely completion to ease the hardship being suffered by motorists.
The construction and dualisation of the project, which is being handled by three construction firms, has dragged for more than five years now, without appreciable success due largely to lack of adequate funding.
Some portions of the road have become so deplorable that commuters and motorists spend days in a journey that is supposed to take less than two hours.
Speaking on Saturday when he visited a failed portion of the road at Ikot Ebom in Ibiono Ibom LGA, where commuters and motorists have been stranded for days, the lawmaker urged the federal government to expedite the construction of the long-abandoned federal highway.
Essien who is House Committee chairman on health emphasized the urgent need for the federal government to provide adequate funding for the project, highlighting the road’s strategic importance in facilitating economic growth, promoting unity, and ensuring the safety of commuters and motorists between the two states and other parts of the country.
“As the member representing the people of Ibiono Ibom State constituency and as one who has been using this road, I had to come here to see things for myself.
“From what I have seen and as you can see, the road has become impassable, and the people of my constituency and other users are suffering.
“I want to seize this opportunity to call on the federal government and president Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene, and ensure adequate and proper funding for the construction of this important road which links the South-South region and the South-East region and other parts of the country” Essien stated.
He lamented that his constituents and other road users have been subjected to suffering and hardship due to the deplorable condition of the road.
“You can only imagine what the people are suffering on this road, sleeping days on the road without getting to their destinations,” he lamented, adding ” people cannot access Cross River State from here, neither can they access Akwa Ibom State, and you know the importance of this road to this region and the country as a whole”.
