Ikot Oku Ikono Flyover: Community Youths Block Highway As AKSG Ignores Demand
By UbongAbasi Ise
Motorists, in early morning of Wednesday, were trapped in the traffic for over an hour near the site of the ongoing flyover project at Ikot Oku Ikono junction as angry youths from Ediene Ikot Obio Imo community took over the highway in protest of the continued blockage of Samuel Peter Avenue, the main route leading to the heart of their community.
The protest, which commenced at about 6.00am, took centre stage at a strategic section of Idoro Road near the flyover where the community youths barricaded, leading to disruption of human and vehicular movement.
The protesters, while expressing displeasure over the blockage of Samuel Peter Avenue by the constructing firm, Julius Berger, on the directive from the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Works and Fire Service, said the inaccessibility to the other section of the community has crippled the local economy.
The youths came out en masse with placards that variedly read: ‘We need our access road opened’, Ediene is a peace-loving community, we need our road’, ‘Our government please, come and rescue us from our bad road network, ‘we are not against our government, we need our road to open’ and so on.
What could have turned out to be a clash with the security operatives attached to the Julius Berger PLC was averted when the Chief Security Officer of the constructing firm in the state, Mr. Abraham Ikhenoba, intervened, imploring the youths and the leadership of the community that came out to back the protest, to suspend the demonstration pending when he would meet with the supervising ministry to discuss the reopening of Samuel Peter Avenue, a road named after the former world heavyweight boxing champion.
Speaking with our correspondent, Eteidung Augustine Edwin Udoh, who is the village head of Nnung Udoe Ediene Ikot Obio Imo in Uyo local government area, said there are six roads in the environs leading to Ikot Oku Ikono flyover, pointing that the state government has attended to five of them while leaving Samuel Peter Avenue cut off from access to and fro the flyover.
Eteidung Udoh lamented that since the commencement of the flyover project, the community has been subjected to economic deprivation, including environmental damage owing to diversion of traffic to the adjoining communities, urging the state government to reopen Samuel Peter Avenue and to reconstruct it.
“All the communities around
here are being flooded because of the diversion. We are really cooperating with
the government; we allow everybody to pass. You can go and see the road now,
you would be in our pity. We have lost a lot.
“Now we want the government to come and not just opening the road, but to tar it because we are still from Akwa Ibom State. I am very sure the Governor is not aware of what is happening here. So I want him to know; let us hear from him. Since the chief security officer of Julius Berger has intervened and since we were not out there for problem, we have decided to back out from the protest, waiting for the next line of action from the government,” said the village head.
Talking on steps taken so far for the reopening of the road, the monarch said he had written complaints to Julius Berger PLC and the State Ministry of Works including the State Commissioner of Police. He also disclosed that he had personally gone to the State Ministry of Works and Fire Service to complain, and to that effect, a project engineer was assigned to work with him, but he appeared not to be cooperating, leading him to call for the closure of idoro section of the road to gain government’s attention.
“I had gone back to the ministry and invited them to come and see what is happening. They came for the inspection; the project engineer was introduced to me, and he was to come to the site and do the report. I have waited for him for more than two weeks now; he has not even answering my calls again. Since he refused to tell us anything, that is why I order them to block the road so that they can come and discuss,” he said.
Also speaking with our correspondent, Mr. Inemesit James, the Youth President of Ediene Ikot Obio community, disclosed that throughout the period of the construction of the flyover, the youth from his community have not been employed even when they tried at the initial stage draw the attention of the contracting firm to local content provisions.
“There is no local content there. We have faced a lot since the commencement of this project. Throughout the construction period, our youth have not been employed there. We tried, by the time they came in, to have a relationship with them so that they can carry us along, but we had to back out because we don’t need any problem. We were happy when the flyover came, so we did not want to make problem with them because we were not employed,” he stressed.
Mr. James further described Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, as well as the state Commissioner for Works and Fire Service, Prof. Eno James Ibanga, as listening leaders, expressing optimism that they would hearken to their yearnings.
While addressing the village head earlier, the Chief Security Officer of Julius Berger PLC in the state, Mr. Abraham Ikhenoba, commended the aggrieved community for their cooperation with the firm, urging them to stay action until the matter is addressed at the appropriate quarters.
“You have endured enough and I see that you a point. I want you to approach the matter in a way that we all smile at the end of the day.
“Whatever is happening now is for development for all of us. We work under the directive of the ministry which is in charge of the project; I will go back to the management in the evening,” said Ikhenoba.
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