ENUGU-ABAKALIKI-OGOJA ROAD BUILT WITH CONCRETE BY WORKS MINISTER AS EBONYI GOVERNOR FAILS DESPITE CLAIM OF 50 YEARS LIFESPAN

The Enugu-Abakaliki-Ogoja Road, once touted as a symbol of progress and development, has become a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of poor governance and wasteful spending.

The dualised Ebonyi segment of the road, with concrete pavement which was constructed by the Ebonyi State government under Chief David Umahi between 2022 and 2023 at a staggering cost of N1.589 billion, has failed miserably, leaving commuters to navigate a treacherous terrain of potholes and craters.

Less than three months after its completion, the road began to show signs of failure, with large chunks of the concrete surface breaking off and leaving gaping holes. Despite efforts to repair the damage, the road continued to deteriorate, rendering it impassable.

First the Ebonyi State government under the leadership of Governor Francis Nwifuru, applied an asphalt overlay after scraping from Ebonyi -Enugu boundary segment to Nkalagu junction. Despite the effects the entire segment of about 4km concrete pavement road collapsed, SaharaReporters gathered.

SaharaReporters visited the road section on Friday and learned that the road was closed to traffic about six months after the initial construction in an attempt to find a durable solution. However, this effort proved unsuccessful as SaharaReporters observed that the dualised concrete pavement road is currently being removed.

The Enugu-Abakaliki-Ogoja Road is not an isolated case. The 4.6km Abakaliki/Afikpo Road, constructed simultaneously at a cost of over N834 million, has also failed. This leaves commuters questioning whether the funds allocated for these projects were merely a figment of imagination.

The administration of President Bola Tinubu has undertaken the reconstruction of the failed road. The decision to allocate N2.5 billion in the 2023 supplementary budget for the road’s rehabilitation and dualisation raises more questions than answers.

What Went Wrong With The Initial Construction?

The Enugu-Abakaliki-Ogoja Road debacle highlights the severe consequences of wasteful spending and poor governance.

An engineer, speaking to SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity during the visit, revealed that the road was constructed without a proper foundation. Consequently, all the materials used have now gone to waste.

According to the engineer, “everyone wants to make it in Nigeria so people are greedy and corrupt”.

The source said, “As you can see, the road lacks proper basement. David Umahi constructed the road to make a show despite the billions of naira spend. It is not only Nkalagu -Enugu boundary segment, if you go to Abakaliki/Afikpo Road from Mammy Market to FUNAI Junction and other roads constructed at the same time, you will see that they have all failed.

“The simple truth is that cement road pavement technology is the best for our climate. But when you are supposed to use 550kg of cement for two metres and you use 300kg, the road will surely fail. The supervisors always take the remaining materials home to construct mansions.”

The source added, “If you are constructing a road, you have to stabilise it through the boulders. Put sharp sand, put lumps and then stone base. From then, you can now put concrete pavement on top.

“We are still going to use concrete pavement again. As you can see, the level of treatment is very low. So there are some levels that we will introduce – the boulder is the one that carries the load, then there will be sharp sand and soil treatment that will not allow water to penetrate the road.

“You know the other side of the lane; the old existing road was shut down and all the traffic was on this concrete pavement road. The other lane was existing before, so when the load came here (on the concrete pavement), the pressure on the road increased.

“To start with, the other side of the road is where all the heavy trucks with heavy loads have been passing for years; you hardly see heavy duty trucks here (concrete pavement). So when it was shut down and the pressure increased her on this concrete road, it started to fail. That is when we came to understand that the work wasn’t properly done. So the minister said that it should be removed and we should start from the scratch again.”

However, he advised that there should be strict adherence to engineering ethics and procedures, emphasising the importance of maintaining high-quality standards.

He said, “People should stop trying to cut corners because cutting corners doesn’t make your work to have good quality. At the end of the day, you will still see that all these things are a waste of money and time. Whatever material we must have removed from here are materials that should have been properly used.

“When you don’t get it right from the beginning, then you waste the entire resources. So people should adhere to engineering standard and procedures.”

Another engineer, also speaking to SaharaReporters, expressed regret over the material wastage involved in reconnecting the road. However, the engineer noted that it was the only viable option to reopen the road for traffic.

“David Umahi constructed the road to make a political statement, but engineering standards were not properly followed,” the engineer said.

“Unfortunately, there are no consequences for wrongdoing and waste of public resources. It is his commissioner for works that constructed this road.”

Meanwhile, drivers and commuters have demanded that contractors and supervisors in the ministries responsible for constructing such roads across the country be held accountable and face appropriate punishment.

A driver, Okeke Omebe, said, “The road is closed because of the way it was constructed and the road has failed. There are lots of potholes and it is disturbing the drivers. I think the government is the one removing the surface. Maybe they want to reconstruct it. The issue is not even about the billions of naira spent on the failed road but the lives that the road has claimed because of the shoddy work.

“So many people have died on this road. Almost every day, we have accidents because traffic is diverted to one lane. People are dying; the millions and billions of naira spent are not the problem, the problem is the human lives we are losing on a weekly basis.

“Vehicles are crashing because of this one lane. I suggest that any contractor responsible for a failed road that killed people should be jailed for life. This is because lives are being taken, vehicles are crashing and the government is wasting taxpayers’ money. It’s from the money that we are paying – vehicle licence, insurance and all that, that’s where the government generates money that is used in building the roads. So, if we generate the money used in constructing roads and they fail, everyone responsible for the failure should be made to pay for it.”

Another driver said: “We didn’t ply the road for up to three months before it failed. So the government should ensure that every contractor responsible for the construction of a road that failed within 10 years should be blacklisted and also made to reconstruct the failed road without payment.”

Another driver criticized the National Assembly for the substandard and poor-quality road constructions in the country. According to the driver, with proper supervision and oversight, the situation wouldn’t have been so dire.

“The National Assembly has failed Nigerians in their oversight responsibility. The governors are even the worst because they are the people awarding the contracts. One question you should ask yourself is whether those contracts go through proper procurement process,” the driver said.

Sunday Nwachukwu, a public affairs analyst has raised concerns over the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, a 700km project under development that is planned to run from Victoria Island, Lagos to Calabar, Cross River State.

The concrete highway is expected to be completed in eight years and will cost N4 billion per km or estimated to cost N15 trillion ($11bn), and will be built by the Hitech Construction Company, owned by Gilbert Chargoury, a long-term associate of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu.

The project has triggered – and is still generating – heated reactions with Nigerians questioning the importance of the road at a time when the country is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades.

The highway will pass through Ogun State, Ondo State, Delta State, Bayelsa State, Rivers State, and Akwa Ibom State, before ending in Calabar.

Concerns have been raised about Umahi, the Minister of Works overseeing the 700km concrete road project, as he was the governor of Ebonyi State when the failed Enugu-Abakaliki-Ogoja Road was constructed.

In August 2023, Umahi advocated for the use of concrete in road construction, emphasising its superior durability compared to asphalt.

He stated that concrete roads can last between 50 to 100 years, whereas asphalt roads typically deteriorate within 10 to 15 years.

Umahi highlighted that concrete’s resilience makes it particularly suitable for flood-prone areas, as it withstands conditions that often compromise asphalt surfaces. He remarked,

“The asphalt fails when underground water reaches its base, but concrete withstands such conditions for decades,” he said.