Road Construction: Flood Sacks Family,Destroy Properties Worth Millions Of Naira

The Akwa Ibom State Government in May 2018, awarded to Zastros Engineering Construction company the construction of Tabernacle street off IkotEkpene road. The street links Nelson Mandela to Calabar/Itu Highway. It's crisscross by Tabernacle lane.

A metropolitan street by all standard, is the worst, neglected and abandoned, but very important street with economic viability. Tabernacle street if constructed will aid ease traffic gridlock usually experienced every Itam market days.

Before this time, the street had yearned and begged for urgent attention to control rain water running from Nelson Mandela into the underground drainage at Itam to no avail.

There came a gleam of hope when residents experienced deployment of men and machines to site; construction work started but stopped abruptly. Zastros disappeared into tin air. And the enthusiasm amidst residents dampen down.

Zastros had raised the level of the road with laterite (red mud) thereby altering the pre-existing topography and natural state of the road. The company abandoned the road in that state for Mr. EffiongUmoh to pay the prize with all he ever worked for in life.

60 years old Mr. Effiong Umoh, a retired public servant and farmer, had returned home to his abode at No 4. Tabernacle lane, Uyo, recently after being away for over 20years. He is a trained farmer, a resource person that specialised in agriculture.

In his massive compound situate a bungalow with a 7000 capacity fish pond in front and about 4000 capacity poultry farm by its side; his life savings.

On May 5, 2019, after a heavy down pour, a ravaging flood visited Mr. Umoh and family and left a stretch of 12 meters perimeter fence knocked down, 1600 poultry birds and 4000 fishes death with house hold item worth millions destroyed.

Not relenting, he borrowed money and stock his farm again and moved on with life licking his wounds. He and other residents in the neighborhood made frantic efforts to get the attention of the state Government through the Commissioner for Work, Mr. Ephraim Inyang but it all fell on deaf ears.

On June 12, 2019, this time very rampaging, the flood came again and sacked Mr. Umoh and family leaving again 3000 poultry birds many thousand fishes including household items worth millions of naira.

" This last incident is so devastating, I borrowed money to stock my farm after the colossal loss of May 5, 2019. Am a retired company worker, not pensionable, am a farmer. Now all my livelihood is swept off. I have no home to keep my family. This was my only home", Mr. Umoh wept.

"I have lost both my certificates and other documents of my family members including our correspondents to the Hon. Commissioner for Works"

He said: " I built this house since 1999, though I've been away from the state in search of greener pasture, have never heard nor experienced this sort of event since I returned"

Mr. Umoh is appealing to AKSG to come to come to his rescue saying "I came back home from Lagos and contribute my quota to my state. My vote and that of my family counted in favour of Governor Udom Emmanuel”.
There should be Contingency planning by the state government. According Darlington Akaiso in his 2013 dissertation titled,  Post-Disaster Safety Net: Instituting Leadership, Economic and Technological 

Arrangement, contingency planning is a management process that analyses specific potential events or emerging situations that might threaten society or the environment, and establishes arrangements in advance to enable timely, effective and appropriate responses to such events and situations.

©The Sensor Newspaper