Politics
SOME commuters plying federal roads in Cross River have reacted to the ongoing palliative works being conducted by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.
The commuters, who spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday along the Calabar-Ikom highway, said the rehabilitation was critical for movement of goods and services.
The palliative works is a five-kilometre rehabilitation of some fixed black spots along the Calabar-Ikom-Ogoja-Gakim roads, as well as the Ediba Junction-Itigidi-Abomege road.
Mr William Okoi, a commercial motorcyclist from Yakurr Local Government, told NAN that the section of the road from Ugep community to Okuni in Ikom Local Government Area (LGA) was now motorable.
“They have cleared all the corners and you can see the other side clearly; now we don’t have many accidents like before.
“Before now, because of the poor quality of the road, passengers paid higher for fares from Ugep to Akpet community in Biase LGA.
“We use to charge N800 due to the bad road, but with the palliative, we now charge N500,” he said.
Another commuter, Mr Robinson Omini, said they didn’t visit the automobile workshops for car repair as frequent as it used to be when the road was in a bad state.
“Since the commencement of the remedial work on the road, our vehicles now last longer on the road and we don’t change our brake pads as we used to anymore,” he added.
Mrs Rachael Bassey, a petty trader around the Ediba Junction in Abi LGA, said: “I feel okay with this road because it now allows vehicles to move smoothly and we now record high patronage from drivers and passengers.”
“We have suffered so much in Cross River on the issue of accessible roads, but with the intervention of the Federal Government, we feel so happy.’’
Reacting to the development, Mr Koya Kehinde, the Federal Controller of Works, said the essence of the palliative, which was awarded late 2022, was to ease vehicular movement.
Kehinde said the palliative work was limited to some bad spots of the project, comprising Uyanga axis, Ekure, Okomita, Ugep axis and also at Ekureku 2. (NAN)
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Tags: Federal Ministry of Works and Housing
