Bad road: Road transporters send SOS to Abia governor
The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Abia State branch, has sent save our souls (SOS) message to the state Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, to urgently intervene and fix the bad portions of the Abia axis of Aba - Port Harcourt road.
The Union noted that the bad portions were responsible for several accidents that had claimed lives, caused incalculable damage to their vehicles, as well as loss of goods worth millions of naira.
Amobi Ohaeri, Abia State chairman of NARTO, who made the appeal while addressing newsmen in Umuahia, said that the governor’s intervention would help save lives and make life easier for motorists and other road users.
“Our humble appeal is for our dear governor to assist us by filling the major broken down spots of Aba to Port Harcourt axis of the expressway to save us from unquantifiable losses that occur almost on daily basis,” Ohaeri said.
He pointed out that bad roads pose serious threat to investments of their members in the transport industry.
Ohaeri noted that though the road belonged to the Federal Government, the major users were Abians, hence the need for the governor to assist in making the road passable, pending when the Federal Government would rehabilitate the failed portions.
“NARTO is a maj or stakeholder in the transport sector of the economy. Our investments centre foremost on trucks that lift both dry and wet cargoes and passengers also, to various destinations across the country.
“The magni t ude of our investment on road transpor tation business is dreadfully threatened by dilapidated federal roads across the country. We are hereby appealing to our dear governor to help us save our vehicles from the menace of regular damage and loss of goods and property worth millions of naira occasioned by constant fall of our trucks on these highways,” he said.
“Our plea is particularly on the Aba- Port Harcourt axis of federal road which is currently at the worst state. We have severally lost our vehicles as some will fall and catch fire, goods and, sometimes lives, will go with it, while in rare occasions, our drivers, conductors and passengers will sustain major injuries or even die,” Ohaeri further said.
The Abia NARTO leader specif ically commended Ikpeazu for his efforts in building and rebuilding road infrastructure which had impacted positively on transportation in the state and also congratulated the newly appointed Commissioner for Transport, Godswill Nwanoruo.
Ohaeri used the opportunity to express gratitude to God for healing the governor when he tested positive to Covid-19.
Contributing, the State Secretary of NARTO, Evidence Obi, commended Ikpeazu for his “dogged pro-active response and interventions to save Abians and other residents from the ravaging coronavirus, adding the governor’s “swift fatherly approaches, precautionary measures and interventions did the magic of low death rate in Abia State.”