Ubulu-Uku, in Aniocha-South Local Government Area of Delta State, is an agrarian community with a population of over two million.
Most indigenes are farmers who depend majorly on agricultural produce, which they sell to other communities on special market days, for their livelihood.
One of the major routes that residents use to transport their farm produce to markets far and near is the Onicha-Uku/Onicha-Ugbo road. But, today, the road has totally collapsed.
Farm produce and other raw materials are wasting away and only the courageous can afford to pass through the road. Old people have been confined to their homes as they cannot afford to pass through the road, with its hellish moments.
The community is on the verge of being cut off from the outside world and its people have, therefore, cried out to the Federal Government and the Delta State government to declare a state of emergency on the road.
They have also warned that the community would not be able to participate in the forthcoming general election, as there would be no access road for politicians to campaign or for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to access the town on election day for the electorate to cast their votes.
The road has become a metaphor for government’s neglect of its constituencies and the non-existent maintenance culture in Nigeria.
During a visit to Ubulu-Uku recently, 95-year-old Grace Oji, who has seen it all, from the “good old days” shortly after Independence to today’s fast-paced Internet age, lamented the lack of basic infrastructure in her part of Nigeria.
Madam Oji said: “I got married to Hon. Paul Okolie Oji, who was Councillor for Works in the First Republic.
I remember that my husband traveled to Lagos to apply for a tractor that was freely given to him by the Lagos State government, which he used to open the link road from Ubulu-Uku to Onicha-Ugbo.
“After he left government, the road was no longer maintained, until in the late 1970s, when Chief Augustine Onwordi, a philanthropist, rehabilitated the link road. After a while, the man could no longer maintain the road and the road kept deteriorating till now that it has gone beyond our imagination.
“Our youths have done their best to salvage the road, but it is beyond individual efforts. I have been confined to my husband’s house for long because of the road. I cannot go out anymore as the road is impassable.
It is only youths that can afford to go out. Children and old people like me cannot pass the road. That is why foodstuff is expensive in the town because the people have no road to go to the farm to either plant or harvest.
“For people like me, we can’t go to church or visit anyone or be visited.
The Reverend Father who used to come to pray for me and give me holy communion can no longer come here because he nearly broke his limb recently while coming to give me communion.
“My plea is that the government should come to our rescue. I am very worried. I am going to 90 and I can’t say that God has not tried for me. He can call me anytime. I am imagining how people will come to pay their last respects to me “.
Mr. Pius Monye, an indigene of the town who visited from the United States of America, wept after seeing how his people were climbing to their homes with ladders.
He said: “I did not enjoy my stay in Nigeria. I am a grassroots person; I wanted to see people, especially my age-mates, but it was not possible to go out because the road was impassable.
I was told how people broke their limbs walking on the road, which is now a death trap. Walking through the road was like walking through the shadow of death.
“I tried to make inquiries about the road and I was told that the contract to repair the road had been awarded to a company many years ago.
I was told that the World Bank paid 70 percent of the money and the state government paid 30 percent. That is why we are asking why the road was not repaired till it deteriorated to this level of being a death trap.
“I could not bring my car home. I parked about two kilometers away from my house. I am calling on the youths to organize a peaceful protest against the government over the state of the road.
What are our political office holders representing us in the government doing? A government should respond to the claims that the contract for the road has since been awarded to a contractor.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa should help us repair the road before the polls or we won’t participate during the forthcoming elections.”
An author and social crusader based in the United Kingdom, Esther Wright, said, “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has been ruling the state since democracy returned in 1999, has failed us.
We should support the All Progressives Congress (APC) government. Maybe we will get succor. We have written, spoken, protested, yet successive governments did not bother to do anything about the road.”
On his part, philanthropist, Mr. Pat Eziashi, said, because of the bad road and reports of people breaking legs and arms while wading through the swampy road, he provided streetlights along the road to alleviate residents’ pains.
“We have contributed money to maintain the road but, with the state of the road, it is beyond community effort. We need the government’s intervention.
If the present government fails to do something about the road, we shall protest through our votes by voting another party. If any Onicha-Uku and Onicha-Okpe quarters should vote for PDP, they should have their heads examined.
“However, political office seekers must visit the road and give us the assurance that he or she will do something about the road,” Eziashi said.
According to a foremost online journalist, Onwordi Ngozi Fortune: “The youths of Onicha-Uku in Ubulu-Uku, on Thursday, January 18, 2018, gathered for kindred-sponsored community road maintenance work.
The huge gully erosion experienced by residents in the area is continuous of life-threatening ecological disaster.
“Despite the public outcry since 1999, the Ubulu-Uku/Onicha-Ugbo road, a major link road between two giant Anioma communities, has continuously failed to attract the attention of the PDP-led government in Delta State.
“Individual and community effort has ensured that the residents of the area are not cut off from the rest of the world.
The streetlights on the road erected by Pat Eziashi are the only reason road users don’t end up falling into the gully at night. Another rainy season beckons and nothing is forthcoming. Who says our politicians are working?”
In her reaction to questions about government’s efforts towards rehabilitating the road and the contract awarded for the construction of the Ubulu-Uku/Onicha-Ugbo road,
Mrs. Joan Onyemaechi Mrakpor, the representative of Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, said, “I do not make statements on government issues that are not clear to me.”
“A few days ago I was speaking to our former Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, because, to the extent that (the road) has been done through Onicha-Ugbo, it was not like it was attracted by Prof. Sylvester Monye, whose Centre of Learning is on that road.
“During the tenure of Governor Uduaghan, there was an occasion at the center and I remember the governor giving directives concerning that road. When he did it openly, I made a remark then, as a member representing Aniocha South at the State House of Assembly, that the road should be appropriately called Onicha-Ugbo-Onicha-Ukwu Road because that part of Ubulu-Uku is known as Onicha-Ukwu.
The governor agreed with me and I think that something was begun and I reminded him.
“However, I do not know the extent of government’s commitment and what happened. I also think the community can do a letter confirming if that road contract has been awarded and, if it was awarded, who was the contractor? They should find out if the contractor has mobilized or not. Something went wrong.
“The road is still the way it is. It is not by attacking anybody (that it will be fixed). It is not by coming on the social media.
I would advise the community to do a letter through their representative to government and ascertain the true state of things and government would do the needful by legally disengaging the non-performing contractor procedurally,” she said.
However, contrary to Hon. Mrakpor’s cautious approach, as well as the uncertainty of the community, the vice chairman of Aniocha-South Local Government Area, Mr. Joe Ikewe, also a native of Ubulu-Uku, said: “There is no cause for alarm. Ubulu-Uku/Onicha-Ugbo road is very important, as it leads to five other communities, Obumkpa, Ukwunzu and others.
Delta State government, under the able leadership of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has reached an agreement with the World Bank.
“One of our sons, who was working with the World Bank, Ify Ezinwa, linked us to the bank. The World Bank and the state government have jointly assessed the road. There will be another visit to the road on Thursday.
“To let the cat out of the bag, the Delta State government has paid N500 million into the specific account for the project. What is delaying the road repairs is the modality of compensation, because the project would affect people’s houses and economic trees. Once that has been settled, the rehabilitation of the road will commence.”
