According to the Oxford Learners Dictionary, road construction is the process or method of building or making roads.
It involves the design, building and maintenance of roads, highways, and other transportation infrastructure to Create safe and efficient routes.
Indeed the milestones by the Dr Alex Otti Administration on road construction play a Crucial role, because it stimulates economic growth by improving markets access, job creation and enhancing social connectivity, making transportation easier for the people.
No doubt, good road network especialy those in the hinterland boosts the quality of ife and accessibility to services like healthcare, Agriculture and improve property value, among others
Unarguably, the Umuahia ikwuano-ikot Ekpene road, which is a federal road, is one of the important roads that link Abia State to States like Akwa Ibom, Cross River and adjudged one of the busiest and economically viable roads in the Southeast and South South Zones of the country.
Historically, the forty nine-kilometer Umuahia-ikwuano-ikot Ekpene road was first reconstructed during the President Olusegun Obasanjo Administration in 1999, by HAPEL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY.
Since the collapse of the road, successive administrations, including that of President Good luck Jonathan, have publicly announced the award of contracts for the reconstruction of the road, with no tangible results.
Over the years, the dilapidated condition of the federal road led to loss of lives and property, with people and students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umuahia, having repeatedly protested over the dilapidated condition of the road which has led to the death of students of that institution at one time or the other.
Despite several remedial works done on the road by the Federal Road Maintenance
Agency,FERMA and the Government, the road has continued to be a nightmare for motorists especially those on business trips, agricultural purposes, and social services, among others.
However since the award of contract for the rehabilitation of this federal
Road by the Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2019 at a cost of thirteen point two billion naira, the reconstruction work has not been intensive, which the contractor blamed on poor funding.
More so, since the claims by some notable individuals and politicians from Abia State about attracting the contract and funding of the road through NNPC, much has not been done as several sections of the road became death traps for the citizenry.
The hopes of the people were high when the present Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi visited the road some months ago, to ascertain the extent of work, done, and since then it seemed that his visit, like that of his predecessor Prof Babatunde Fashola, did not yield much as the condition of the road continued to worsen with communities that make use of the road finding it difficult to evacuate farm produce and connecting to the neighboring states, including those on interstate journies.
Happily, the recent pronouncement of the State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, on the takeover of the reconstruction of the 49km Umuahia-lkot Ekpene federal road, which has been fixed for flag-off
on Friday, 24th October 2025, came as a big relief to millions of Abians and motorists.
In truth, the Governor’s intervention on the dilapidated and comatose lkwuano-Umuahia-ikot Ekpene road demonstrates his administration’s genuine commitment to the infrastructural development of the state, which has placed Abia’ in the past two and a half years on a higher
pedestal.
There is no doubt that if the Umuahia-ikwuano-lkot Ekpene federal road is fixed, it will not only enhance the value of property in that axis but, will safeguard the lives and property of
people who make use of the road and contribute to the economic development of not only Abia state, but the Southeast and South South Zones in general.
Optimistically, the road users believe that the State Government will expand the road from the current size to accommodate heavy vehicles plying on it as well as install its trade-mark streetlights and durable drains to the joy of Abians along that axis and edification of the state.
Consequently, it is also expected that the reputable contractor that the state Government has secured for the road project will heed to the contractual agreement and deliver the road on
schedule.
In truth, with what the state Government has achieved in the over one hundred roads already constructed and reconstructed in the state, people are confident that the Umuahia Ikwuano-ikot Ekpene federal road’s present condition will soon be a thing of the past.
Written by
FRANCIS NWAUBANI
OF THE BCA
