Economic activities has brought life to the indigenes and residents of Owot Uta, Nung Ekere, Edebom 1 road, a week after Governor Umo Eno commissioned the 11km Akwa Ibom State Government and World Bank Road project under the Rural Access Agricultural Marketing Project.
The people expressed joy on the project, which has brought further development to their areas.
Etebom Nsidibe Etuk, Clan Head of Ibesikpo said, his people were lucky to have this project, as it is not every community that will be fortunate to have this kind of project. The contractors were the best, they did their job diligently, and I commend RAAMP and everyone who was a part of this project completion.
This road used to be in a terrible state, it was a death trap, you could take at least 30 minutes to get to Ibesikpo for a journey of minutes, because when it rains, we are stocked.
A cyclist, Mr Ubong Ekong, said, we were not happy on the state of road, there was no market anymore, because there was no road to the market, now we are happy, because economic activities have picked up.
Driving a car and riding a motorcycle was terrible on the road, we couldn’t access the hospital, now you can go to anywhere at anytime.
The road has given us access to the market and other places at ease. Everything is normal. We are all happy, I now have more patronage and I have made more money since the road was constructed. We are all happy, he concluded.
A provision store business woman, Mrs Mandu Effiong, stated that the road used to be extremely bad, but it is now in a good state. She further said, her business has improved, and she makes more sales now than it used to be.
A community leader in Ikot Okubo, Mr Mfon Ekanem appreciated the Governor and the world bank on their partnership under RAAMP, to get the road constructed. According to Ekanem, it has been a fulfilment of a dream, to see the road project come alive, with a behive of economic activities springing up in the state, people are buying plots of lands for development, all of these, was made possible due to the road construction, and highlighted his community’s gratefulness.
Residents extolled the leadership of Governor Umo Eno, on his intervention in seeing that the road project is completed, and further pledged support to the Governor’s administration.
The State Project Coordinator for RAAMP, Pastor Gideon Akpan, who spoke at the newly constructed Owot Uta Edebom 11km road, said, RAAMP has further engaged people to keep the road in good shape.
He further said, all of the persons engaged for the road maintenance project, are indigenes of those communities where work has been completed, and awaiting commissioning by the Governor.
“There is no other person to look after those projects, except the indigenes of those communities, because they understand the terrain, and know the people that live around them. It is difficult for a stranger to carry out any harm in an area, without the connivance of the villagers. Hence, we decided to engage them to be custodian of those projects,” Pastor Akpan was quoted.
This is a pilot scheme in partnership with the International Labour Organisation(ILO) who are strengthening the capacity of the Rural Access Roads Agency RARA on sustainable road infrastructure management, and the Road Maintenance Team members are equipped with adequate skills and tools and are also paid minimum wage by the ILO, Akpan stated.
Also Speaking, one of the engaged workers, Joy Samuel said she was grateful to the Governor for the opportunity to work, which will help cushion the economic situation in her family.
Dr Eneh John is a Journalist and Associate, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.
