Indigenes of Umuebele, Ikwerengwo, Chokota and Imeh communities in Etche local government area, have embarked on a peaceful protest to draw the attention of the Rivers State Government to the deplorable condition of Umuebele Road, which links the communities to Port Harcourt and Imo state.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Secretary of Umuebele community, Mr. Pedro Bernard, lamented that in spite of various promises, the road has remained deplorable for over twenty years, thereby hindering economic and social activities in the area.
“This is Umuebele road leading to Umuebele, Ikwerengwo, Chokota and Imeh. through this road you can connect to abia state or imo state but for the past 22 years now this road has been in this situation, the road is not motorable and its causing a lot of issues for people we have called the attention of all the government agencies to fix the road but non of them seems to be responding”
While noting that Umuebele is a major oil producing community and has the voting strength in any election, Mr. Bernard wondered why the road should be left unattended by relevant authorities.
Also speaking, two of the protesters, Mr. Ezekiel Zini and Mrs. Favour Nnaji, decried the effects the bad condition of the road is exerting on the lives of the indigenes and other residents engaging in business activities in the area.
“This road is a community linking road and government or the company or whoever that is in position to work n the road feel comfortable in their office because they are not making use of the road. Even right now I am having BP because of the bad road, I had a lot of miscarriages last few years before this one came up and I decided that this time around I will not be climbing bike abd all that so that this one will stay”.
The protesters, who called for government intervention, threatened to block the road entirely if urgent measures are not taken to repair it.
