"If they don't move fast, they will encourage the appearance that they are deliberately delaying the job."
Roads are essential for linking producers to markets, workers to jobs, students to schools, and the sick to hospitals.
Roads are key for the growth of a nation's socio-economic progress.
Citizens in Abia State and beyond are worried about the perceived delay of the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Road reconstruction project.
While some worry that the project might be abandoned just like any other in some parts of the country, others think that the delay might be connected to the common road construction project delivery bottlenecks.
Visit to project site
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)'s recent visit to the road project site shows that some sections have already been completed while some were yet to be fixed.
The section between Ndoru and Okwe had already been fixed, to the delight of the road users.
The 49km Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Road was awarded to Hartland Construction Company Limited in 2019, costing N13.2 billion and was to be completed in four years.
Before the award, the federal road linking Abia and Akwa Ibom State had become a deathtrap, as people usually undergo groaning, pains and trauma coupled with huge economic loss while plying it.
The project was facilitated by Sam Onuigbo, the immediate past member, representing Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency, Abia State, when he moved the motion in 2016 in the House of Representatives for its reconstruction.
Mr Onuigbo, according to our findings, followed it up with several letters, including a meeting with Babatunde Fashola, the then minister of Power, Works and Housing in 2016, drawing the government's attention to the deplorable condition of the road.
Mr Onuigbo spoke about the economic loss to the nation caused by expensive vehicle operating costs and road haulage charges.
Consequently, the then minister, Mr Fashola, had directed the Federal Road Maintenance Agency to do palliative work between December 2016 and April 2017 to allow people to ply that road until the contract for its reconstruction was awarded in 2019.
Paucity of funds
Unfortunately, the paucity of funds hampered its progress until the federal government later approved it for funding by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), through the Road Tax Credit Scheme in late 2021.
Our investigation revealed that the contractor returned to the site in 2022 after addressing the funding challenge.
However, a constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Monday Ubani, expressed misgivings, saying there was no significant improvement in the contract since it was first awarded in 2019.
Mr Ubani, Chairperson, Section on Public Interest and Development Law, NBA-SPIDEL, argued that the contractor lacked the capacity and competence to execute the project.
Reacting to the development, the Federal Controller of Works, Abia State, Tochukwu Onwubiko, admitted that the work was not moving at the expected speed. He blamed the delay on cost, compensation, mobilisation and rainy season while assuring that the government was doing everything possible to ensure the project's timely completion.
Mr Onwubiko, an engineer, explained that before the NNPC takeover, the contractor was hampered by insufficient funds, leading to reduced site activities.
The controller admitted that some areas on the road were bad while affirming that those were the areas they were yet to work on due to the mobilisation challenge.
According to him, the inability of the government to compensate those whose structures are outside the Right of Way (RoW) is a huge challenge to the project.
"You can't touch some part of the road until this issue of compensation, which runs into billions of naira, for those whose shops, houses, and crops will be affected, is sorted out because if not, they will take you to court.
"That is why sometimes we do some palliatives - finding a way to patch instead of the main construction," he said.
Mr Onwubiko continued: "Let me correct people's impression of the contractor being funded. There is no money anywhere to be carried. You work, we evaluate, and you get paid.
"Before the fund is released, the contractor gets an Advance Payment Guarantee from banks.
"The banks have their engineers to evaluate your work, and they will give you that money in bits while ensuring that what you get is commensurate with the work."
He dismissed the speculation that the contractor lacked the capacity for the project, saying, "A lot of people don't understand the difficulties involved."
Contractor reacts
Meanwhile, in its reaction through its spokesperson, Grace Gbagi, Hartland Construction said they were not slow on the job and have been on the site, working very hard since it started being funded recently by NNPC.
The company said that those complaining about the job's pace needed help understanding the technicalities involved in construction work.
According to Mrs Gbagi, "Between 2019 and 2022, the road was not funded, so we came to the site, left and returned in 2022 when NNPC took over the funding.
Mrs Gbagi said: "Our team is currently working at the Ikot-Ekpene axis, and because of weather - rain right now, we cannot do earth movement jobs.
"We are concentrating now on asphalt, on drainages at that Ikot-Ekpene axis, because all the drainages on both sides of the road towards Umuahia had already been done.
"The earth movement section cannot work now because of the heavy rainfall."
'I would have loved contractor to move faster'
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The project facilitator, Mr Onuigbo, said that some progress was made but would have loved the contractor to move faster, even though he admitted the rainy season was a challenge.
He expressed confidence in the contractor, saying that the job done between Ndoru and Okwe was enough to make a sincere assessor know that the contractor had the capacity.
"I drove to Ikot-Ekpene the other day. I saw that they were working on that axis and have asphalted many areas that are stable, just like they have asphalted from FMC, Umuahia axis to Ngozi Filling Station.
"Between Ndoru and Okwe, which has now been fixed, used to be the worst section that neither cars nor trucks could drive past because it was covered by a pool of water.
"Even after the road (contract) was awarded in 2019, up till 2021, nothing much was done because there was no funding.
"I wrote additional letters and met with the minister, which led to the road being transferred to the NNPC Road Tax Credit Scheme."
Mr Onuigbo said that he had convened several meetings with various people, including traditional rulers, community leaders, clerics, the contractor and the Federal Ministry of Works on how the goal of completing the project could be achieved.
The former legislator said he was committed to completing the road despite leaving office.
He, therefore, urged the contractor to put in more effort. He said, "If they don't move fast, they will now encourage or create the appearance that they are deliberately delaying the job."
This analysis is lifted from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
