Fears of more exorbitant prices of essential goods aggravating the prevailing hunger in Akwa Ibom State appear imminent as angry youths protesting the worsening state of the Calabar-Itu Highway took over the Itam portion of the dual carriage way, blocking food trucks from reaching Uyo, the state capital.
Akwa Ibom majorly depends on the neighbouring Cross River and Benue states for most staples including yam, garri, beans, onions, potato, local rice and other agricultural produce, to supplement locally produced food items.
Leadership Sunday reports that most of the items are often ferried into the state from Northern Cross River, Benue, Ebonyi and the Central African country of Cameroon through the land border at Ikom, and the maritime boundary at Bakassi.
Speaking with our correspondent at the Nelson Mandela axis of the highway close to the Itam International Market in Itu local government area, one of the protesters explained that the action became necessary to draw the attention of both the federal and state governments to the plights of motorists and passengers traversing the road to the Calabar municipality, and other farther LGAs in Northern Cross River, for businesses.
"The state of the road became worse since the rainy season began. Now the transport fair that used to be between N1,500 and N2,000, has jumped up to between N5,500 and N6,500," one of the protesters, Akaninyene Etim, explained.
They recalled that a couple of months ago, the minister for Works, Senator David Umahi, had during stakeholders' meetings on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, held in Uyo and Calabar respectively, assured that contractors handling the road work, including Julius Berger, would be pushed to return to site or risk termination of the contract.
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"Since then, no serious efforts have been made to expedite action on the road work," they noted.
Wondering why successive governments would continue to play politics with the road that is so strategic for human lives and businesses, the protesters lamented the untold hardship faced by the people commuting that road to Calabar and other adjoining states.
"Because of the deplorable condition of the road, many times, some trucks will fall and block the road and we would have no option than to make a detour to Okurikang in Odukpani LGA to board a wooden canoe to Calabar," a garri and beans dealer, Effiong Bassey, lamented.
"Many times, we had to divert from taking the highway to take commercial ferries or speed boats from the Oron LGA beach to take our newspapers to Calabar, or through Okurikang River. And that's why most national newspapers get to Calabar late after arriving Uyo, from Port Harcourt, Rivers State," a newspaper circulation officer explained.
