Oyigbo-Afam Road: Residents Seek Quick Completion

Barely one year after the Oyigbo-Afam Road rehabilitation and expansion was commenced by the Chief Nyesom Wike administration, residents of the area have urged the contractor to quickly complete the project.
The project stretches from the Afam-Oyigbo Junction in Oyigbo Town down to Afam main town, where the Afam Power station and state-owned Cassava Processing Plant is located. It covers over five kilometres of road that connects remote villages like Obete and Azuogu which borders the Imo River in the local government area.
Before the current effort to expand the road, the route was in a sorry state such that the residents had to seek alternative roads in the adjoining villages to access their communities. From Umu Soya Junction down to Mini Nwanyi, the road is filled with craters and potholes that could swallow tricycles and other smaller vehicles that ply the route.
To ameliorate the suffering of residents, the governor after a visit to the area last year awarded the contract to rehabilitate the road to LuBriks Construction. Without hesitation, the indigenous construction company was mobilised to site and work commenced.
Initial remedies were done by the construction firm to fill bad portions of the road, especially between Umo Soya and Kom-Kom railway axis where deep craters make it difficult for vehicles to drive through. The remediation work paved way for construction of a much bigger drainage on both sides of the road to curb flooding which eats up the road.
During a recent visit to the road by The Tide Metro to the area, residents are of the view that construction is slow as the rainy season gathers storm following few weeks of August break. From the Market Road down to Afam Junction, though works is still ongoing, the road is filled with mud and debris, coupled with a roadside market that spills from the Oyigbo main market into the road.
David Cosmos, a resident of Afam Road told The Tide Metro that they are hopeful that the project would be completed before the end of the present administration. “We thank Governor Wike for remembering us, but work is still slow and the rains are here again.”
Cosmos said the road is of huge economic and social importance to Oyigbo people because it is the major access to the council headquarters at Okoloma in Afam.
He lamented that the remediation work done by the construction firm to help vehicles drive through has broken down due to the rains and that there is need to increase the pace of work before the year ends.
“Most of the businesses are seriously affected,” Cosmos stated, “the mud is so much that people have to walk by the side, even vehicles are finding it difficult to drive through.”
From investigations, many residents living along the Afam –Oyigbo Road have moved to the interior, while some relocated to Port Harcourt. The Tide Metro further learnt that though the road condition contributed to the situation, the area does not have power or potable water as well.
In addition to lack of basic amenities, the cost of rent has equally gone down in the area as a room now goes for N3,000 per month, while a bedroom flat goes for between N70, 000 to N100, 000 per annum. Many of those who live in the area buy water from houses that have borehole, and a bucket of water is sold for N20.
Lamenting the dwindling business fortunes in his computer shop, Chidiebere Iheanyichuku said, “apart from the poor road condition, lack of power worsens the situation since the shop runs a standby generating plant. “Without electricity we can’t do business and we spend more buying fuel at high cost.”
Most shops along the road have been abandoned due to flooding and lack of electricity. The Tide Metro was told that the area had been cut off from power supply for the past two years. Shop rent now goes for N120, 000 per annum despite the situation.
Iheanyichuku said commercial motor operators have doubled their fares as they pay N100 as against N50 from the junction to Kom-Kom market. He therefore appealed to the government to compel the contractors to resume work to reduce their plight.
Along the market road, street traders spill into the road and with the rains, the road is muddy and filthy, thus, making traffic difficult for vehicles to go through. On both sides of the road, food stuff sellers and traders of second hand clothing adorn the pedestrian walkway.
Blessing Charles, who hawks vegetable told The Tide Metro that they pay tickets to be allotted space on the roadside. “They have community ticket, local government ticket and task force here and we pay them before they would allow us sell.”
Mrs Charles expressed worry over the ongoing drainage construction along the road. “There is no day, one customer or trader doesn’t fall into this drainage,” she said, “please, let the contractor do something to cover it.”
In the same vein, Chuwuebuka Nwadike who sells foodstuffs pleaded that the drainage should be quickly completed to avert accidents, “as you can see, the drainage is deep and if you fall inside, there is no way you will not be injured.”
Nwadike told The Tide Metro that the market does not have amenities and is responsible for the filth in the market. “We need power, water, but most important for us is the road. If they complete the road we would be happy,” he said.

By: Kevin Nengia