Senator Osita Ngwu Urges FG to Release Funds for Enugu-Onitsha Road Project

By Gideon Arinze | Enugu

The Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District and Senate Minority Whip, Senator Osita Ngwu, has called on the Federal Government to urgently release funds for the completion of the old Enugu-Onitsha federal road project.

Ngwu made the appeal during an inspection tour of the road project on Sunday, accompanied by members of the Enugu State House of Assembly and other key stakeholders from the zone. The project, which is being handled by Arab Contractors, covers the stretch from the Anambra border through Oji, Aboh Udi, Okpatu, Ukehe, and terminates at the Opi junction.

The senator, while expressing deep concern over the delay in project delivery, disclosed that although funds had been appropriated for the road in the national budget, the Ministry of Finance is yet to release them to the contractor.

“If the government is not prepared to make funds available, then it shouldn’t award road projects in the first place,” Ngwu stated. “And you cannot even talk about economic growth when the roads are bad.”

He lamented that the poor condition of the road contributes significantly to the feeling of marginalization among people in the Southeast, urging the federal government to demonstrate more commitment to infrastructure in the region.

“The state of roads in the region is part of the reasons why the people feel marginalized and uncared for by successive governments in the country. We cannot continue to fold our arms,” he said.

Also speaking during the tour, a community leader, Mr. Hyacinth Ngwu, decried the rising insecurity in communities along the road, linking it to the deplorable state of the infrastructure. According to him, criminals often take advantage of slow-moving vehicles to launch attacks on commuters.

In his remarks, the project’s construction manager, Mr. Ahmed Farouk, revealed that repeated efforts to secure more funding from the federal government have yielded no result, thereby stalling the progress of work on the project.

Meanwhile, Senator Ngwu also visited the ongoing 9th Mile–Orokam dual carriageway project being handled by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC). The road cuts across seven communities, from Ama Breweries at 9th Mile to Ebe, Egede, Amoka, Affa, Umuoka, Ogbede, and Opi Nsukka, and links to Makurdi.

Ngwu called on the contractor to expedite action on the project, which is being financed through a Preferential Buyer’s Credit facility from the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM), under a joint funding agreement between Nigeria and China.

“For this project, funding is not an issue because the federal government has fulfilled its part of the bargain,” the senator said. “What is left is for CHEC to complete it as soon as possible to ease transportation in this corridor.”

The lawmaker reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that federal infrastructure projects in his senatorial district are not abandoned and continue to receive the attention they deserve.