Without pretence, fear or favour, one can rightly summarise the present economic mess the country is into.
This has called for new ways of handling our day to day activity just to cope with hope alive that someday the Egyptian we see today, we shall see them no More.
My quest unveiled an unbelievable eyesore which can simply be described as the "biggest mass grave" that may take generations of good governance to cover.
That was actually my first day to tramp Nduetong Oku from Uyo City polytechnic road to Uruan local government, and I promise, it may be the last time unless government will do the needful.
Roads are created because of changing interactions between people and their environments; they are created to facilitate access to natural resources; to connect humans, communities, to move goods to markets, and to move people to work. Whatever their purpose, road establishment, maintenance and road travel have a broad variety of effects.
Nduetong Oku from Ikpa road to Uyo city polytechnic gate has been totally destroyed by erosion to the point that no two cars or tricycle can pass side by side at any time of the day. The road does not provide a safe environment for residents of that area.
A little drops of rain often halt movements on this road as flood sweeps away some houses with properties, thereby posing major problems to the residents and passerby.
This has resulted in deteriorating environment in which vandalism and criminal activities increases and people who were neighbors now merely live in adjoining houses and buildings for fear of unknown.
The influx of students in that area has led to the establishment of various formal and informal settlements, especially next to the road network in order to gain easy access to Schools and transport.
Transportation and property are important in physical and economic development of towns and cities all over the world.
Property and land values tend to increase in areas with expanding transportation networks, and increase less rapidly in areas without such improvement.
Beyond the Uyo City polytechnic gate to the dead trap that leads to Uruan local government area, one may not be wrong to describe the area as criminal den where robbery, killing and occult initiation can be carried out with great success at any time of the day.
Erosion have washed the soil so dip that 2million corpses can be buried and more space will remain for more. The road has become so lean that only motorcycle can pass but with carefulness, as no one falls into that valley and comes out alive.
Profitability and utility are determined by accessibility. The grater the accessibility of a location, the grater the comparative advantage, and the grater the advantage, the grater the demand for property at the location.
The route network coupled with increased transport investment result in changed level of accessibility reflected through Cost Benefit Analysis, serving in travel time, and other benefits.
These benefits are noticeable in increased catchment areas for services and facilities like shops, schools, banks, and leisure activities.
The rapid and continuous rise in housing and land price as witnessed in the municipal areas of Uyo is consequence upon the negligent of bypasses areas like the Nduetong Oku road by government of Akwa Ibom state.
No sane man would dispute the contributions of Uyo City polytechnic to the growth of education and economy in the State and country at large.
But one keep wondering why government both at federal and state level abandoned the Nduetong Oku road which serves industrial and residential neighborhood and provided the shortest link to Uruan local government area.
It is no longer news that innocent people are robbed on daily basis at Nduetong Oku road from the hours of 8pm and this criminal acts is not the best thing for the State.
Transportation route is part of distinct development pattern and mostly described by regular street patterns as an indispensable factor of human existence, development and civilisation. Man, Nations, regions and the world would be severely limited in development without transportation which is a key factor for physical and economic growth.
It would be recalled that the immediate past Governor of the State and now Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio once announced his administration readiness to construct that road, but failed due to reasons best known to him and his government then.
Recently, Governor Udom Emmanuel has mentioned the Nduetong Oku/Uruan road as one of the roads that will be constructed by his administration, and hopes of the residents is in the rise.
It is expected that the road when constructed will provide relative advantage to both residents and commercial users, as modern business, industries, trades, and general activities depend on transport infrastructure, with movement of goods and services from place to place becoming vital and inseparable aspect of global and urban economic survival.
However, as Governor Udom Emmanuel awards contract for the construction of Nduetong Oku road, it is expected that the Governor will not tour the line of deceit, but will remain focused and truthful to his promise.
Residents of Nduetong Oku must come to the know that the improvement of their road depend largely on their cooperation.
It is not the time to start erecting illegal structures for wants of compensation from government and the contractor.
Stakeholders, youths, Landlords, and institutions in Nduetong Oku must give maximum support and cooperation for the road construction to be successful for the good of the people.
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