OPINION: True story behind the construction of Ugboju-Onyagede-Ankpa road

By Yemi ItodoAs construction of the long abandoned and dilapidated Ugboju-Onyagede-Ankpa road starts in earnest, it is very necessary to set this narrative to avoid unnecessary controversies on the actual efforts made by Ugboju sons and daughters leading to the commencement of the project.As someone with in-dept knowledge of how the whole genuine efforts started, I am in a better position to set the record straight on who did what and how.It was in January, 2017 that one of the veteran Journalists from Odega in Onyagede, late Elder Nats Onoja Agbo, took upon himself the pains of writing to the Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Chief Babatunde Raji Fashola, appealing for reconstruction of the dilapidated Ugboju-Onyagede-Ankpa road.As a follow up to his commendable effort, National Commandant, Peace Corps of Nigeria, Amb. (Dr.) Dickson Akoh who has made several efforts even before then to ensure the dilapidated road was fixed, reached out to the renowned Journalist and pledged to double his efforts to ensure the road was reconstructed.Months after the letter by Elder Agbo, Amb. Akoh consulted me to mobilize all the major media including online from Abuja and the Correspondent Chapel in Makurdi on a Media Advocacy Tour, to capture and widely report the dilapidated state of the road.The media team also visited the district Head of Ugboju, Chief Solomon Apochi and The Idoga of Onyagede, Chief Ogili Adamu with elders of both districts, and they went round with us to access the bad state of the road first constructed in 1991 when General Muhammad Buhari was the Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).Appeal made by Amb. Dickson Akoh and the Royal Fathers from that media tour which was widely reported by Channels Television, AIT, TVC, NTA, STV, NAN, Radio Nigeria, Leadership, Vanguard, Nation, Daily Trust, Blueprint, Daily Independence, Sun, Pilot, Radio Benue, Joy FM, Harvest FM and other stations in Abuja and Nasarawa, including major online media like Daily Post, Legit, Sahara Reporters, Premium Times, The Cable, Pulse, Idoma Voice, Naija Voice, Daybreak and many other online newspapers, was the major catalyst that compelled the Ministry of Works after assessment of the factors made available to the ministry and the general public to start giving good attention to the reconstruction process of the road.To further give voice to the advocacy, Amb. Akoh wrote a letter to the Honourable Minster, Babajide Raji Fashola (SAN) in March 2018, appealing for the reconstruction of the dilapidated road.In January 2019, the Ministry awarded a contract for the engineering design for the rehabilitation of the road to Messrs Tadam Engineering Services, to ascertain the level of damage with the view to commencing works on the road.It is of great importance to mention that Amb. Akoh, after waiting for the rehabilitation that was not coming, decided to take the matter to Ugboju Country Club, Abuja and a 7-man committee was drafted to champion the crusade of getting the attention of the Honourable Minister.The Committee comprises of Amb. Dickson Akoh, a Federal Director in Niger Delta Ministry, Mr. Alfred Abah, Hajia Halima Ode, Gen. Ameh and others made remarkable efforts at getting the attention of the Minister.In one of the advocacy visits to the Ministry, the Committee met with a Director of Federal High Ways, Engr. Yemi, who happens to be a friend and Colleague of a committee member, Mr. Abah.It was Engr. Yemi who muted the idea of working out a palliative intervention of N478m to start with the rehabilitation of the road, since it wasn’t captured in the 2019 budget.To this end, a Federal Controller of Works in Benue State, Engr. C.S. Shausu was mandated to carry out an assessment tour and make an informed decision on whether to rehabilitate the road or reconstruct it.Engr. Shausu reported that a total overhaul was needed on the road and the cost was put at N17.5bn which the Ministry has also agreed to embed in subsequent budgets for commencement of reconstruction.For the main time, a contract of N478m has been awarded to Messrs GR Building & Construction Nigeria Ltd, to commence a rehabilitation which started on Tuesday, 6th April, 2020.Worthy of mention also, was the former House of Representatives Member, Hon. Ezekiel Adaji, in July 2017, who moved a motion that the road be rehabilitated, which was unanimously passed by the House.Similarly, Hon. Blessing Onuh, current Member of House of Representatives brought it to the attention of the 9th Assembly and a resolution was also passed that the road be rehabilitated.This little piece would not have been necessary, but for the misinformation on the cyber space where controversies have continued to trill the commencement of the rehabilitation of the road.I have attached herewith, relevant documents as proofs for truth to speak for itself. We should rather stop playing politics with sensitive issues of development. We should rather encourage people of goodwill to subscribe to what will bring growth and development to our community, instead of striving to circumvent the true pictures of things.Having cleared the air, may I sincerely appreciate all those who made efforts to ensure the FG’s attention was drawn to this road.May I also appreciate my media community for standing by me in all the media advocacies and the attendant social media activities.We shall continue to engage the government through the instrumentality of social engineering, to make sure the needed development is brought to our zone.