Roads-good roads-are no
doubt a critical infrastructure for national development and prosperity; call
it transformation and you are correct. To
buttress, great roads, connects cities, towns, villages and hamlets. By so
doing, cross border trade and commerce of all imaginable dimension thrives;
movement of men, women, children and goods are safer, prompter and better cost
effective. What more, the risks of
unnecessarily loosing skilled Nigerians- potential administrative messiahs of
tomorrow- are either eliminated or greatly reduced. When such occur, it will only be because of
individual disregard to basic tenets of road usage, defensive driving if you
like.
The Port Harcourt -
Enugu federal expressway is one of such numerous excellent roads in the south-east/south-south
Nigeria. I had the honor of traveling
this road few days ago- I have not in a very long while- and it was great joy
of a travel that I had. Built in the
late seventies and recently reconstructed by the federal government of Nigeria,
this important precursor of movement, trade, commerce and integration for the
people of south-east and south-south Nigeria, is a perfect example of what
roads- transformation associated roads- should be in the region specifically
and the country in general.
The recent
reconstruction was as a result of the deft political and administrative moves
of governors of the south-east states, supported all the way by those of the
south-south. Realizing the importance of this road to the economies and peoples
of the region, the governors had engaged and pressured the central government
endlessly. It got to the point where
they resorted to carrying placards to Aso Rock Villa, demanding not just the
reconstruction of the road in question, but other economically critical roads
in the region. While they were on this,
senators and legislators of the region also joined suit, literally carrying
placards in the upper and lower chambers of the national assemby. Their fights
paid off and today, we have the beauty of a road, the Port Harcourt- Enugu
Expressway.
My recent travel on
this road commenced somewhere on east-west road, very near to Eleme junction in
Port Harcourt. The east west road itself
was another beauty of a road to behold, at least the little I saw from where my
journey commenced. From here, we
navigated to Eleme junction, then to Oyigbo (Obigbo?), then to Aba, Umuahia,
Okigwe and then the Enugu stretch, a few kilometers to Awgu/Mgbowoh junction,
popularly called “aki n ukwa junction”
in reference to a local food delicacy commonly sold in this area. By the time we got to this junction, we had
done four hours. Back in the days
(before the recent reconstruction), this would normally take between one hour
forty five minutes and two hours. The
remaining stretch is just about thirty minutes before you hit Enugu. All this
would be at national permitted speed limits on such roads.
Why did we choose to do
this stretch in four hours when we could have done so in two or a little less? Answer, we were busy admiring the beauty of
the road; stopping severally to closely admire the construction and
accompanying embellishments at specific areas on the road. We saw a number of haulage vehicles (trailers)
parked on the road at numerous points, and the drivers/passengers admiring the
road. In several instances, goods and
materials- bags of garri, flour, cement, food items, raw materials, name it-
where seen offloaded by the road sides, and in some places in the middle of the
road. Why?. The people so loved the road
that they did not want to complete their journeys quickly. They wanted to waste
as much time as possible on the road, possibly sleep over so they can fully
savour its beauty and have enough stories to tell others who have not been
opportuned to travel on this great and beautiful road.
In some instances,
vehicle drivers were so lost in admiration that they did not know when their
vehicles skipped the road limit and toppled over, causing loss of lives and
heavy damage to goods. However, the
people concerned expressed happiness at the occurrences, insisting that the
beauty of the road far outweighed their losses-neither the government nor the
road were to blame. It was as
interesting as it was intriguing- I still wonder. One other wonder on this road was a
particular segment, in a community (cannot recall now) situated between Okigwe
and the junction leading to Ishiagu-the home to Crushed Rock Industries, an
important quarry industry. This
community is home to a cattle garage (popularly referred to as Gariki), which
used to be located within the Okigwe area. Here, scores of haulage vehicles have almost
taken over this great dual carriage way. Why? They have all parked to admire
the wonder and beauty of a road, especially the exquisite mini-resort, built to
enable travelers stop and refresh before continuing their journey. We had to also stop and park as there was no
way we could continue unless the other folks moved their vehicles. We had to take it easy before somebody snapped
on us, possibly wondering why we could not appreciate the wonder they had
stopped/parked to admire for only a while?
Finally, we got into Enugu after nearly five hours of travelling (should
have been under two and a half back in the days), on the great and beautiful
Port Harcourt-Enugu Expressway, recently reconstructed by the federal
government of Nigeria.
On getting home, we
refreshed and got down to talking, discussing, sharing/comparing notes. We praised first, the peoples governors/governments
in the states of the south-east. We also
praised the south-south governors for their love and support. We did not forget
the state assemblies and their leaderships; they were the ones that kept the
governors on the edges of their seats until justice was achieved in regard to
this great road. Then we stood up for
the federal lawmakers of south-east extraction, they are true sons and
daughters of the region-selfless, committed, just and upright, thinking day and
night of the wellbeing and happiness of their people. We did not forget the support of governors and
legislatos from other political and economic zones of the country. They are
also spearheading such transformations in their regions. Posterity will not forget their labours for
the genuine transformation of the regions of Nigeria? And then the biggest one, we praised and
praised and praised the government at the centre. Ofcourse, we recognized the untiring and
sacrificial efforts of successive ministers under whose supervision, the region
witnessed such amazing transformation in road infrastructure. Next we hear is
that a committee has been set up to map out strategy for sustaining and
improving on the success achieved. The committee will be headed by an elder
statesman?, an achiever of no mean status.
The reconstruction of
this road has no doubt opened up fresh vista for the south-east region and her
neighbors. The gains associated with
such first class infrastructure are unimaginable and the region will be the
better for it. The larger Nigeria will
benefit too.
Wait a minute, is this
real? I mean is this true of the
Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway or any other of its magnitude in the
south-east? Have you travelled this road
recently or do you know of any friend from the region you could ask? Better still, go find out first hand. I bet you, the opposite, stark opposite of
what has been described will stare you in the face. Do not venture into this nightmare of a road,
such an important one at that.
God bless, help and
keep Nigeria at 52
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