The entrance road to the communities that house the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, located in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has experienced significant flooding, which residents of the communities hosting the stadium have bemoaned as a key alternate route to the stadium.
They bemoaned the fact that the road, which had been in a terrible and inaccessible condition, had caused the people enormous misery, particularly during the rainy season.
From Goodluck Boulevard to the stadium’s main entrance, the road had been tarred; however, the part that passes through the four communities of Obio Etoi, Obio Offot, Use Ikot Ebio, and Ikot Ntuen Nsit before reaching the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital had not.
The drainage that was channelled from the stadium into the community with the paved section of the road causing regular flooding on the untarred portion.
Speaking with our correspondent while lamenting the predicament of the communities on Thursday, the community liaison officer, Mr. Ntiense Okon, said the deplorable state of the Stadium Road being the major access road from the stadium into the communities had caused many residents to relocate.
Okon said the Stadium Road spanned over 2.9 km and its construction was necessary in order to provide alternative route to the stadium in case of medical emergency.
He said; “This road is nearer to the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital than the Abak axis and if constructed it will provide rapid medical response in case of emergency.”
He lamented that the deplorable state of the road has crippled economic activities in the communities as farmlands and residential buildings have been submerged during rainy season.
Another resident, the Eteidung of Afaha Nsit village, one of the adjoining communities, Chief Idongesit Udofia, appealed to the outgoing governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, to direct contractors to come and help the communities before exiting office on May, 29th, 2023
He said that the impassable state of the road had heightened criminal activities in the communities because the police cannot access the communities during the distress calls.
Udofia also said that sordid state of the road into the host communities of Godswill Akpabio International Stadium was likened to the cliché of living on the bank of the river and washing one’s hands with spittle.
“We were excited when the stadium was sited on our land, now we cannot access our houses because of bad road occasioned by drainage channeled into our communities. When they play international matches, security operatives even stop us from going into our houses,” Udofia alleged.
He said that the construction of the International Stadium road was necessary to ameliorate the suffering of the residents and indigenes of the communities.
Also, a community leader in Obio Etoi village, Prince Godwin Udofia, pleaded with the outgoing governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, to visit the host communities of Godswill Akpabio International Stadium and bring succour to the residents before his final exit from government.
Udofia alleged that the absence of motorable access road from the stadium into the communities has exposed them to incessant armed robbery attack. “These communities deserve better treatment than they are experiencing currently.” Udofia said.
Another resident in Obio Offot, one of the host communities, Mr. Etebong Asuquo, lamented that his house was always flooded whenever it rains.
He appealed to the state government to come to the aid of the communities by sending competent construction company to fix the road for the benefit of the communities.
The commissioner for Works and Fire Service, Prof. Eno Ibanga, could not be reached to comment on the issues as his lines were switched off as at the time of filing this report.
His counterpart in the ministry of Special Duties, Bassey Okon, though could not pick only dropped a message saying “I can’t talk right now.”
