Rivers State Government has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the failed portion of the East West Road, especially the Akpajo-Eleme axis, which has been completely cut off and now constitutes a death trap to road users and residents of the area.
The call was contained in statement released in Port Harcourt by the State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Emma Okah.
Okah noted that the East-West Road belongs to the Federal Government and the Akpajo-Eleme axis leads directly to critical economic infrastructure such as the Oil and Gas Free Zone, Onne, Indorama Petrochemical and fertilizer companies, Port Harcourt Refinery and Eleme Refinery, among others.
He said: “Sadly, while other federal roads in the country are receiving the attention of the Federal Government, the East West Road has remained neglected, abandoned and left to further deteriorate.
“It was for the reason of acute dilapidation of the road that the Nyesom Wike administration, together with some stakeholders, made huge contributions to stabilise the portion of the road with the expectation that the Federal Government will take a cue from there. Unfortunately, the Federal Government neither appreciated these patriotic efforts and sacrifices of the state government and the other contributors and made no move to repair the road.
The statement added that:“The East West Road has become a source of anguish to the people of Rivers State and our lamentations have only fallen on deaf ears. The deep decay of the road has resulted in huge loss of man hours, accidents involving trucks and attendant loss of property and human lives which could have been avoided by repairing this axis of the road.”
“For the records, the East West Road is the most economically strategic Road in the Niger Delta region and we hope that this insensitivity on the part of the Federal Government will end soon.”
