By NewsCritic Reporters
President General of Ohuhu Welfare Union Worldwide, Sir Obi Aguocha, has said that the Isi-Okata erosion site at Ohuhu-Umuahia is a death trap that needs urgent palliative work to ensure the safety of Ohuhu people and motorists who ply the route daily.
Aguocha stated this when he visited the Isi-Okata erosion site with members of his executive for on the spot assessment of the site on Thursday, January 16, 2020. The President General maintained that the Ohuhu community as a whole has a role to play in ensuring the safety of its people and motorists, while it waits on the government to commence work at the gully erosion site.
He disclosed that even though the government has assured that work will soon start on the erosion project under the New Map, he however pointed out that the only problem with the project is that it might take some time to complete the documentation processes, while the erosion continues to encroach on the road and pose serious danger to the lives of the people.
Said Aguocha “we have reached out to the Abia State government and they have given us full assurance. They themselves are going to collaborate with the World Bank, and they have done the assessment after that they do the cost to capture it in their budget. It is certain within the next few months that process will commence. Whether this road will last the next rainy season is of greater concern to us as a community”, he stressed.
He said the assessment tour of the site is to enable the community ascertain how it can start immediate palliatives work at the site in terms of putting barriers to stop further traffic on the road. Aguocha also called on motorists to make use of the detour created by the Umuahia North LGA TC Chairman to avoid risking their lives.
The President-General however appealed to the Umuahia North LGA TC Chairman, Chief Lucky Akabuike to make the detour a priority and safer by installing streetlights and asphalting. In the mean-time, Aguocha asked people dumping refuse on the side to desist from doing that so as not to further encourage the porous nature of the soil and the ground to sink further.
“The most important take is that this is an urgent project, it’s a risk to the lives and safety of our people who use this road on daily basis, he adds. The PG also appealed to illustrious sons and daughters of Ohuhu land to assist in the community efforts to mitigate the dangerous situation.
Meanwhile, the PG of Ohuhu Welfare Union has announced that the leadership would commence a tour of government facilities and ongoing projects in Ohuhu-Umuahia to ascertain their level of completion.
In a press release signed by the Publicity secretary and Provost OWU, Enwereuzo Ogbonna and Emmanuel Nwokonna respectively, which was made available to The NewsCritic online, the release said the tour will start on Monday January 20, 2020. The PG equally called on communities to provide information on abandoned projects in their communities for necessary action to be taken.
