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EROSION: UMUNNEOCHI COMMUNITY CRIES OUT, SENDS SOS TO ABIA GOVT

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…. Calls for Immediate Repair of Damaged Portion of Mbala-Amuda Road

Mbala Town Development Union (M.T.D.U) Lagos Branch  has made a passionate appeal to the Abia State Government to urgently intervene and save the community from imminent cut-off from the rest of the State.

Rising from a general meeting on Sunday- the 20th day of October 2019, the Union lamented that unless urgent step is taken by the Okezie Ikpeazu- led government in Abia State to fix the damaged portion of the Mbala- Amuda road close to Mainland Oil Filling Station, the border town in Abia North Senatorial zone will be cut-off from all socio- economic and political activities in the State.

Speaking to journalists at a press conference after the meeting, Coordinator of the Town Union, Comrade Obiechile Ikpe decried the seemingly deliberate neglect of the road by both the Umunneochi Local Government and Abia State Government even in the face of concerns raised by the people across social media platforms and representations at various government levels.

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“The road has become not only a death trap but a serious security risk. Unsuspecting Mbala sons and daughters who enter the Town late in the night are now at the mercy of hoodlums who take advantage of the bad spot to lay ambush and cause mayhem on unsuspecting passengers.

“Many of our people have become victims of armed robbery attacks on that road as the place has become a hide out and safe haven for miscreants who perpetrate all manner of crimes on that spot against unsuspecting Mbala sons and daughters either doing their legitimate business or returning home to their families,” Ikpe said.

Speaking in the same vein, one of the Community leaders, Chief Kingsley Madu decried what he called the Government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the rehabilitation of the bad spot on the road when it was giving signs of dilapidation.

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According to him, “the big gully that ended up dividing that road did not happen one day. The signs were there but enough attention was not given to the problem then. Though the then Executive Chairman of the Local Government, Barr. Okey Igwe intervened with some palliatives but it wasn’t a task for the local government because of its lean resources.”

On his part, Chief Richard Ikpe, another community leader urged the Abia State Government to take up the fixing of the road as a matter of urgent importance especially now that the Yuletide season is around the corner, contending that if urgent steps are not taken to fix the road, the impression will be that Umunneochi is not part of Abia State.

Ogbuehi Chichebe Obiaka, one of the community leaders at the meeting also prayed the Abia State Government to urgently repair the road bearing in mind that Mbala community is home to the Abia State Cashew Plantation, one of the biggest Cashew Plantations in the country.

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Other people who spoke at the press conference called on the representatives of the community at all levels of the legislature and political leaders in the area to join hands in appealing to the Abia State Government to urgently intervene and save Mbala community from imminent cut off from the rest of the State as this is the only way they can be reassured that Umunneochi is not a marginalised entity  in Abia State.

MTDU Lagos Branch Secretary, Prince Ezenwa Okorocha said that Mbala as a border town is so strategic that an issue of urgent importance like the failed road cannot be left unattended, and therefore, charged the Abia State Government to put machinery in motion and get the road fixed as soon as possible.

Earlier while welcoming journalists to the press conference, a member of the union and logistics expert, Comrade Emmanuel Chukwuma stated that the Abia State Government owes it as a duty to not only get the failed portion of the road fixed but rehabilitate some dilapidated roads in Umunneochi begging for urgent attention.

Reporter: Rommy Imah

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