A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Charles Ogbonnaya, has warned against the re-flagging off of the rehabilitation of the Umuahia/Ikot Ekpene Road.
He said that this flag off has already been done by the federal government in 2019, following the remedial work carried out on the road between 2016 and 2017.
Charles Ogbonnaya stressed that any attempt by the Abia State governor, Alex Otti, to claim credit for the project would amount to brazen deceit, because the APC-led federal government has assumed responsibility for the project.
The former deputy Chief of staff and commissioner was reacting to reports indicating that Governor Otti was scheduled to flag off the project for a second time, after it was previously done six years ago, saying that credit must be given to the federal government.
Ogbonnaya explained that the project was attracted by the former member representing Umuahia/Ikwuano Federal Constituency, Hon. Sam Onuigbo, adding that the problem had been funding challenges, with a number of completed segments.
Recall that the Federal Ministry of Works (FMoW) on the 27th of June 2023 through the then Federal Controller of Works, Abia State, Tochukwu Onwubiko, at a Town Hall meeting convened by Indigenes of Ikwuano, under the umbrella of the Ikwuano Federated Unions reeled out bottlenecks militating against the speedy completion of the project.
These he said include but not limited to paucity of funds, issues relating to compensation and variations in cost of materials from the time it was awarded to then.
The stakeholders now encouraged him to focus on the aforementioned segments of the road, which they described as critical, as work continues on the road.
It is also an established fact that sometime last year, the Minister of Works Engr. Dave Umahi inspected the ongoing construction work on the same Umuahia Ikwuano/Ikot Ekpene road.
