Ebonyi community decries neglect amid deplorable state of amenities, others
RESIDENTS of Obeagu Community in Ishielu Local Council of Ebonyi State have decried the absence of good roads, healthcare facilities, potable water, functional schools and electricity in their area.
Located along the EnuguNkalagu- Egedege- EhaAmufu- Ikem- Obollo- Afor Road, the community is only accessible through a deplorable 15- kilometre road, with nine to 10 kilometres of farmlands and dangerous terrain, making it difficult for vehicles to pass, especially during the rainy season.
Visiting the community is a nightmare as it is only accessible through a track road by foot or motorcycle, popularly known as ‘ Okada'.
Journalists, who attended a burial in the community recently, experienced firsthand the challenges of the road as they spent several hours trying to free their vehicles from the mud.
The experience of the journalists highlights the dire situation faced by the over 10,000 residents of Obeagu. The Guardian learnt that the ugly state of the road was the main reason members of the agrarian community convey the corpses of their deceased relations to the morgue in Eha- Amufu in Enugu State and other places by motorcycles during the rainy season and wait till the dry season for burial or bury them immediately.
In the community, expectant mothers go through ugly experiences due to lack of access to medicare.
A resident, Mborie Ukpah, said the only government health centre situated along the road has one govern
ment nurse who does not live in the community.
Ukpah said the only two people in the facility are health volunteers and members of the community.
She also lamented that the only secondary school in the area is neglected and part of
the structures collapsed after it was hit several years ago by a rainstorm.
The Guardian further learnt that “all the teachers posted to the school from outside the community by the government visit once or twice a month, leaving their teaching work to mainly those recruited among indigenes of the community.”
It was difficult to access the community last Thursday after a rainfall. The journey, which took off at the Egedegede junction on EhaAmufu road on a motorcycle should have taken 30 minutes, however, it took over one hour due to the nature of the road.
The President General of the Obeagu community, Kenneth Okoh, said: "We have been suffering a lot right from inception because if you come to our road, it is the worst in Ishielu Local Council of Ebonyi State. And because of the bad road, our people are slaughtered like goats on the road. Due to the deplorable state of our only access road to the outside world, during the rainy season, you will find it difficult to come to this community.”
Okoh said the community could not fix the 10- kilometre road on its own and begged the state government to come to its aid.
“Nothing is working here because there is no road. During the dry season, we pay N500 from that junction to this place. But during the rainy season, no motorcycle rider collects anything less than N1,500. Again, they carry three to four passengers at the same time," he said.