Horror for motorists, passengers as massive craters takeover Calabar-Uyo road
*15 school children, others die in one month
*Security agents mount checkpoints, extort money despite challenges
*Construction works resume shortly, Nsetip, Federal Controller of Works
THE Calabar-Uyo section of the East-West Road, which crisscrosses the South-South region, has turned a deathtrap with deep craters, gullies and broken bridges constituting an eyesore on the federal highway constructed in the 70s during the petro-dollar era by the General Yakubu Gowon military administration.
15 lives perish
Between February and March this year, over 15 lives were lost in road mishaps that could have been avoided had the highway been in good shape.
The first accident occurred February at Okurikang on the Cross River axis, claiming nine lives in a collision between a truck and a commercial bus.
Two weeks later, March 15, another head-on collision between a truck and a bus on the Akwa Ibom stretch left seven persons, including school children, dead.
It is not uncommon these days to find a vehicle or two involved in road crashes resulting to loss of lives and destruction of vehicles on the highway.
Uyo-Calabar takes 4 hours instead of one hour –Lati, driver
A newspaper delivery van driver, Lati, who spoke to NDV, said that owing to the appalling condition of the road, any day he gets to Uyo later than 4.00 am, the papers would be delivered late in Cross River.
“We usually leave Vanguard News Plant at Asaba by midnight and get to Uyo by 3.00 am and arrive in Calabar by 6.00 am. The journey between Uyo and Calabar which was usually one hour, is now three to four hours because of the bad road,” he stated.
Lati said on some days, the road is completely blocked and in such cases, the papers are taken to Oron and delivered in Calabar by sea at an additional cost.
Citizens deprived of information – Ojo
Vanguard Media Limited Auditor, Mr. Shola Ojo, knowledgeable about the challenges, said: “A lot of people look up to the newspapers for news and information and when papers arrive late, they hardly get to the central and northern parts of the state, which is another long journey and this deprives the people.”
Potholes materialize daily on the road
A driver whose truck upturned downhill at Itu told our reporter: “I was not on high speed. Only that every day, new potholes appear on this road and if you fail to see such potholes early, you are in trouble.”
Even with the terrible state of the road, there are a legion of roadblocks mounted by security agencies and hoodlums to extort money from motorists. NDV reporter counted 20 of such roadblocks between Calabar and Uyo.
Escalating checkpoints
A bus driver, Aniete lamented: “There are several policemen, soldiers, immigration, customs, civil defence, mobile policemen, and road safety men mounting checkpoints on the road and if you fail to settle them, they impound your vehicle or delay your movement.“
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He said that most often, all those monies become additional transport burden on commuters, adding that the trip between Calabar and Uyo was N500 in 2020, but now it is N2,000.
Construction starts soon – Nsetip, federal controller of works
Federal Controller of Works, Engineer Bassey Nsetip, was not forthcoming on what is behind the delay in the construction of the road awarded since 2017.
Nsetip said work would soon commence but did not say when specifically. The construction work which was awarded to Julius Berger had begun in 2017 with sand pilling at the Uyo-Ikot Ekpene road junction, but later stopped.
Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, had said at the time that it is among the roads the Federal Government was carrying out its roads construction scheme.
However, a source told NDV that payment of compensation was almost completed and work would restart soon.
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