by crossriverwatch admin
The continuous neglect and deprivation of basic infrastructure in Ikot Omin community, a suburb in Calabar Municipal area council has been described as unacceptable despite the huge revenue government is collecting from the area.
The community which is located along eight miles, Calabar according to CrossRiverWatch findings is one of the highest revenue points for Calabar Urban Development Authority (CUDA, Department of Public Transport (DOPT) and Calabar Municipal Council.
Bad roads, problem of flood and erosion, insecurity are among the problems facing the community.
Speaking on the challenges the community is facing, Veteran journalist and a research fellow from University of Calabar, Dr Okpo Ojah said several promises have been made by government without action.
Ojah who is also a public affairs commentator said the community which is the highest revenue point of various government agencies in Calabar Municipal Council Area is in abysmal state.
“Look at this road for example, it is just five kilometers and the kind of revenue government is generating from this area is unimaginable considering the state of infrastructure.
“Where is the revenue that government is collecting here going? You can see tippers going back and forth since you came here, more than one thousand of them pass through this road to scoop sand from that gully you are seeing over there.
“People have died repeatedly as a result of this road which causes insecurity for us here.
“We have made several efforts through the Commissioner for Works who said the road has been awarded but we have not seen anything since then.
“In fact let me tell you what happened, he (Commissioner for Works) came to this place with good intention to inspect the road after repeated calls.
“He recommended that one Engr. Ateke is in charge and gave me his phone number, I have called Ateke several times; at a point he refused to pick my calls .I don’t know him whether he is a contractor, consultant or government worker.
“If I should go by the Commissioner’s mandate, Engr. Ateke has been responsible for the impasse of this five kilometers bad road we still have in this area up till today.
“I don’t know who is Engr. Ateke that is causing us sleepless nights and people die and get injured using the bad road on a daily basis.
“I don’t know what priority government uses to construct roads in a community that is economically viable, position-ally productive and electorally active with huge population.
“They make Millions of Naira here on a daily basis, so let government look into this before it gets out of hand.” he said.
Also speaking Dr. Idaka Idaka said landlords have contributed money to repair the road several times but the government authorized heavy duty tippers who come to the ravine to scoop sand continue to spoil the road.
He called on government to consider the Ikot Omin erosion site in the 200 million Dollars received from the ecological funds.
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