Aba-PH Express Way: A Nightmare (1)

Under normal
circumstances travelling from one destination to another is supposed to be a pleasurable activity especially when such trips are meant for excursions, holidays, long and short term business and so on. As the cliché goes, “travelling is part of education”. However, this is not presently the case with our country, Nigeria, given the current state of the roads, be they trunk ‘A’ ‘B’ ‘C’ ‘D’ roads. If truth be told, the joy of travelling is usually cut short due to the busy state of our roads.
Obviously, one stretch of the many roads in the southern part of this country which makes travelling an absolute nightmare is the Aba (Obehie) – Port Harcourt road. This stretch is in a dilapidated and deplorable state. For instance, between Aba and Obehie, the stretch is a death trap, between Obehie and Omuebele is nothing to write home about and between Imo River and the Toll Gate Bus Stop is in a state of total collapse. Indeed some portions of it are completely washed out. Of course, the scanty aspects that can still withstand vehicular pressure are shamefully decorated with pot holes, leaving some aspects in a totally impassable state.
Against this backdrop, the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku once described the Nigerian roads as huge slaughter slabs, where lives appear to with little or nothing. Therefore, the right questions are worth  are the governors and state commissioners for works in both Abia and Rivers states doing? Or are they not aware of the present state of the road connecting both states which happen to be the commercial hub of the South-South zone? Don’t these leaders notice on the few trips they reluctantly embark upon by road, the large potholes littered all over, some of which have snow-balled into rivers and brooks on the highway of what is said to be the richest part of this excessively wealthy nation?
Such unfavourable image of the less than 100 kilometers of road connecting two important centers of commercial activities in Africa’s most blessed country leaves quite much to be desired in the leadership style both of the federal and state governments involved.
The stakeholders involved in this negligent act may wrongly argue that they seldomly travel by land but do so by air; even at that they are still not exonerated. Don’t they watch television whether at home or in the office? Don’t they read newspapers? Don’t they have media assistant s? don’t they have relations who travel from Aba to Port Harcourt or vice versa for their day-to-day transactions? These I am certain would have lamented the bad condition of this road to their hearing.
On the part of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), its management needs to be told that the so-called repair work we have observed  with dismay going on slowly and scantily in some parts of the country may not be required on the Aba-Port Harcourt stretch, just in case they are considering working on it. What this road requires is complete reconstruction because of its terribly dilapidated state. There is simply no need to cut and patch the damaged spots.
The situation at hand simply amounts to a number of incredible implications. This amounts to injustice both to the land and to the people of both states. Is it not a thing of shame to know that the state (s) that provides for over 85% of the nation’s wealth and petroleum products used for transportation does not have the basic means of transportation by land; good road network?
The ripple effect of such a pathetic situation are certainly obvious. Livelihood  is grossly affected in different ways: economically, socially and culturally.
Economically, business activities are affected  in no small measures. Motorists have continually lamented over the pains of driving on this road. Consequently, the prices of goods and services are outrageously skyrocketed. Traders and other travellers are forced to pay twice or thrice the normal fare. For  instance, the fare from Aba to Port Harcourt suddenly jumped from N150 to N300/N350. And in most cases, the angry and weary looking commuters are deaf to whatever pleas a passenger might present in the eventuality of having anything less than the stipulated (amount) fare.
This also implies a wanton increase in the prices of goods that are sold for the consumer. For instance, a basket of fresh tomatoes which used to sell for between N5,000 to N7,000 has jumped to N15,000 to N25,000. The prices of other essential commodities such as, garri, rice, fish, pepper, articles of clothing are not left out.
Similarly, the fate of families and individuals who before now lived below the poverty line/level is grossly exposed to moral danger-malnutrition-‘kwashiorkor’ and some who are more vulnerable may die in the process. What an unfortunate situation!
There is no doubt that the income level of many individuals and families that depend on these traders who spend a whole fortune on transport fare will certainly drop. And if this is the case, what becomes the fate of the children who are still in school in such families? The bread-winners will find it almost impossible to run the home and still pay bills and school fees.
On another note, the bad state of this road encourages the illegal activities of touts who position themselves in and around spots where there are potholes. These touts rudely demand their share of the ‘cake’ claiming to have assisted the drivers get passengers come on board. Then the  helpless driver who fears he/she might be molested by these jobless army of youths and their car damaged, are forced to give almost half the amount of money they received from passengers. It does matter very little to these touts whether or not the vehicle arrives its destination safely.
Again the Aba-Port Harcourt road which has progressively gone from bad to worst has often served as traps which hoodlums use to waylay unsuspecting and unarmed passengers/drivers. This is better imagined than experienced because the victims will surely be nursing the grief of the psychological scars resulting from the trauma.
Meanwhile, it is usually almost impossible for the security forces to respond immediately in cases of emergency. They are caught in the terrible traffic which is often caused by the nature of the road. Sometimes accident victims die before they are rushed to the hospital for proper medical attention.
Odey of Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA), is an intern with The Tide.

Luke Odey