Shehu Abdullahi is from Fagge area of Kano State. My parole in refereeing, hobby made me establish acquaintances with the Northerner who works with one of the security agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Fate played a fast one on him when he was among those redeployed from the head office of his organization to Imo State as an operation officer
Shehu hasn’t stepped into Owerri, the state capital of Imo before for any engagement. As a resident of the state, and a bossom pal, he requested my attention and assistance for a guide on how to get into Imo state from the Sam Mbakwe airport. I was at hand to pick him. From the airport, we moved through the Owerri Aba road en route a hotel in New Owerri.
Earlier on my way to the airport, I had avoided the Emmanuel College/Whethral Road/Naze route for the Fire Service/Egbu/Mbaise road and made a detour at Road Safety Roundabout by Egbu/Awaka. But the experience I had trying to manoveure the bad spots on the route was nightmarish. After the Road Safety office, only a driver with good knowledge of the dilapidated spots can survive and get through to Naze end of Aba road. Already, two vehicles got stuck in the pool of muddy waters but it was by stroke of luck I managed to survive the ordeal having employed a cumbersome driving expertise to escape death traps. The road was not only water logged but also in bad shape. Any vehicle who passes the Road Safety Egbu/Awaka Road to Naze Aba road junction on two occasions must visit a mechanic if it manages not to observe suspension on the road.
The Naze to Building Materials market, location is also an eye sore to behold. It speaks volume of the poor state of roads in the state. As we managed to enter Owerri town, rain came down in torrents. It was at the point that Shehu quickly asked if we are used to motorboat means of transport in Owerri to survive the rains. Reasons for Shehu’s question are not farfetched.
The rains caused a disaster because all the roads in the state capital were waterlogged after a heavy downpour making it impossible for our vehicle movements worse hit was the newly expanded Whetheral/Govt House/Okigwe Road Roundabout, near the Govt House, Owerri gate where we could not navigate.
The first day experience of Shehu in Imo State tells a better picture of what the people in the state are going through, especially now the rains are around. There is hardly any route that goes beyond two kilometers a vehicle can move without witnessing obstruction caused by deplorable road condition.
Those residing or doing businesses in New Owerri, especially World Bank Estate are not left out. There is no accessible road any longer as the ones done by past administrations have been allowed to rot away without any attention. Our efforts to locate the hotel reserved for Shehu was cumbersome as we had to alight from the car and managed to use our legs to the location since the accessible road was not motorable.
More so, the new ones constructed by the Okorocha administration, are in shambles.
From the rural to the urban areas, there are no good roads in Imo State worthy for vehicular traffic. It goes a long way to challenge the acclaimed 1000 kilometers of roads, the Okorocha Rescue Mission Government claims to have done in its first tenure. It also exposes the improper jobs of the contractors the state government award contracts of road projects to.
If the Okorocha administration has love for the people of the state, there is need to declare a state of emergency now before the state is locked down due to ailing road networks.
