We have less than one year before campaigns for the 2015 general elections begin; what will they tell us this time around? Look around, there is chronic unemployment, acute inflation bringing forth an uncomfortable economic meltdown, what of poor public electricity supply, crumbling road infrastructure and insecurity. Indeed, Nigeria’s problems are multiplying every day, growing, spreading in leaps and bounds; what with no concerted efforts on the part of government to do anything feasible.
Let us ask ourselves, has the
Federal Government of Nigeria constructed a single road in the Cross River State since 1999? What will our political leaders from Akwa Ibom and Cross River States tell us concerning the deplorable, dilapidated and utterly bad Calabar-Itu-Ikot Ekpene-Aba Federal Highway? Will our political leaders have the courage or even the mind to implore or urge us to vote for President Jonathan or whoever emerges as the presidential candidate of the PDP in the face of the failure of successive PDP controlled Federal Governments to construct this very vital highway that links the South-South with the South East?
Recall that the Federal Government has made more money since 1999 than from 1914-1998 from the sale of crude oil, yet such an important Highway that is so strategic to the socio economic growth of Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Abia states has suffered benign neglect for the past 15 years! I combed the appropriation Act of 2014 throughly to find out if the construction of this Highway has been budgeted but it turned out to be an exercise in vain. This is the last national budget President Jonathan will be implementing before the 2015 election, yet this Highway is left out. So what will they tell us? Will they simply tell us to vote for President Jonathan because he is from the South-South like me? One can imagine the economic losses we suffer each time this Highway is blocked as a result of its deplorable nature. Take
again, another Federal Highway in Cross River State that has remained deplorable for the past 15 years; the Calabar-Ugep-Ikom Federal Highway. This Highway has completely collapsed yet nothing has been done on it for 15 years . The Highway has shrunken so much in size over the years to the point that it simply cannot cope any longer with the heavy traffic that it is currently saddled with . The result is that the road has become one of the most dangerous roads in the world. It is a death trap. Each day, ghastly accidents take place on this road. It takes divine intervention for one to travel through this road and arrive his or her destination safely, yet our political leaders do not bother to draw the attention of the powers that be to this eyesore boldly staring us in the face. In our unfortunate situation, these leaders will still tell us to vote for so and so come 2015. They will buy bags of rice, food seasonings cubes etcc and distribute same to our hapless people, so they can vote for those who do not care about them.
Recently, one big Abuja politician came to my community and convened a meeting of some young apparently educated people numbering morew than 100 and doled out some money for easter celebration! The Politician received a big applause from the crowd. He was praised to high heavens by these crowd of young people who never bothered to asked him why virtually all the federal highways in our State have been abandoned over the years by the Federal Government! Our young people forgot to ask our Abuja political big wig why the Federal Government has woefully and spectacularly failed to create employment for them so they can live more meaningfully! So the question remains this: What will they tell us next time
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