Traditional Ruler of Etiti Ohazu Autonomous Community in Aba South of Abia State, Eze Ishmael Nnakwu, says the deplorable state of Obohia Road, which causes severe flooding at the slightest rainfall, has subjected his domain to disaster.

The royal father has, therefore, sent a Save-Our-Soul (SOS) to Abia State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, to come to the rescue of his people by rebuilding Obohia road to ease the sufferings of the residents.

Nnakwu made the call during an interview with newsmen in Aba on Monday. He said that Obohia road, belonging to Abia State government, cuts across three Local Government Areas of Aba South, Ugwunagbo and Ukwa East, describing it as strategic to the people residing in the state.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded contract for rehabilitation of the road about two years ago but the work was abandoned.

Said Eze Nnakwu: “Obohia road in Aba South is a very important road, that helps farmers from rural areas to evacuate their commodities to Aba town for sales.

“However, due to the deplorable condition of this road, most agricultural produce found around the area are now sold at exorbitant prices because most farmers take their produce to Port Harcourt because of availability of access roads to Port Harcourt.

“We have asked our Governor what is being done about Obohia road and he told us that a contractor said that the road rehabilitation contract was awarded to him by the NDDC.

“But since then, we have neither heard from the NDDC nor from the contractor. What we are saying is that since the road belongs to Abia State government, if the NDDC and their contractor do not want to build the road, the state government should take over and rebuild it to save us much trouble.”

He said that the absence of drainages has exposed the road and community to flooding which has created gullies, as result of which the Federal Ministry of Health has classified residents “as people living in swampy area of Aba South.”

But the royal father said that his community “is not a swampy area,” and pointed out that severe flooding was turning the community to a disaster zone which requires urgent attention.

“The condition of our roads without drainages, with refuse littered here and there, has made it look like a swampy area. We are living in a disaster area as my community is usually submerged by floods at the slightest rain.

“We suffer from lots of epidemics. I have made series of reports to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Abia State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) but to no avail,” he said.

Nnakwu said that the condition of their roads has been worsened by lack of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) refuse buckets in the area to ease disposal of refuse by the residents.

He, therefore, pleaded with Governor Ikpeazu to either take over the rebuilding of Obohia road or use his good offices to make NDDC deploy a functional contractor to the site immediately.

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