Owerri — The stretch between Orji and Akabo, along the busy Owerri-Okigwe federal highway, is increasingly becoming a nightmare to motorists and other road users.

The state of the road, which is apparently compounded by the heavy downpour in the past few weeks, has seriously deteriorated. All types of vehicles are constantly stuck on different portion of the road, leading to unending traffic on the particular stretch.

Vanguard investigations revealed that the terrible state of the road might not be unconnected to "the apparent slow pace of work by the contracting firm, Zeerock, which is presently handling the dualization of the road".

Speaking to Vanguard while waiting to meander through the bad stretch, the immediate past Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Prof George Amadi, lamented that he wasted more time at the spot than what it took him to travel from Enugu to Akabo.

"What is really happening here? When will our leaders realize that the governed have never asked for the moon? It is very sad that commuters are subjected to this ugly experience on a daily basis", Prof Amadi said.

He was also of the opinion that "apart from the man hours lost in the traffic jam, all the vehicles plying the road suffer varying degrees of damage".

When reminded that some element of sabotage may be responsible for the bad roads, Prof Amadi remained emphatic that "government knows how to squarely deal with cases of sabotage, if it ever becomes the case".