EKPOMA – The Onojie of Ekpoma, HRH Zaiki Anthony Abumere ll has called on the federal government to urgently effect repairs on the Benin-Ekpoma-Auchi Expressway to alleviate the sufferings of road users.
The monarch while lamenting the deplorable state of the highway described it as shameful.
According to the traditional ruler, no country in the 21st century should have a road in such deplorable condition; talk less of a country that prides herself as the giant of Africa.
He charged the president, Muhammadu Buhari to give marching orders to the Federal Ministry of Works, the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the contractor handing dualisation of the section of the road to urgently fix the road.
“About 10 years ago, the federal government divided the Benin-Okene Road into four sections – Lokoja/Okene; Okene/Auchi; Auchi/Ehor and Ehor/Benin, and awarded them to four different contractors. It gave the Auchi-Ekpoma-Ehor section to Dantata & Sowe. But nothing meaningful has been done since then.
“Presently, the road is in a very deplorable state that trucks spend days between Ehor and Auchi, following the gridlock. The situation is compounded by several broken down trucks. As I speak with you now, a truck conveying fuel fell by Ujoelen Market, spilling its content on the area. It is only by God’s grace it has not exploded.
“So I am appealing to federal government to urgently do something about it so that the road can be passable. The situation of the road rightly now is shameful”, he lamented.
The monarch also used the opportunity to call on the federal government to tackle the incidence of kidnapping on the highway, lamenting also that the insecurity on the expressway was making it hellish for those plying it.
