Angry youths vow to stop elections in their communities over abandoned superhighway project
Youths from five local government councils in Akwa Ibom state have vowed not to allow 2023 general elections held in their areas if the state government does not give convincing reasons why it abandoned the 55.1km Ibom super-highway project in their area.
The council areas involved are, Eket, Esit Eket, Ibeno, Udung Uko, Mbo, and Oron council areas.
According to the angry youths, they are disappointed in the manner the government of Udom Enmanuel has handled the project as it has been abandoned six years after the groundbreaking ceremony.
They complained that the exercise has led to the destruction of houses, farmlands, and economic trees in the affected communities in order to pave way for the project, stressing that six years after, no compensation has been paid to even to persons whose houses and farmlands have been destroyed.
It would be recalled that the contract for the 6-lanes Ibom Superhighway project was awarded by the state government to Ebla Construction Company Ltd in 2017 on a Public-Private Partnership arrangement (PPP). But the company was never mobilized to start work.
The youths carrying placards of diverse inscriptions and one reading ‘we need our right compensations for crops and buildings,’ blocked Ebla Construction Company Ltd from evacuating its equipment from its site in Ibeno.
A youth activist in Esit Urua, Comrade Francis Itiet said, “since I was born I have never seen the number of abandoned projects scattered everywhere in the state.
“We receive the highest federal allocation and the wealth of the state comes from this axis but we haven’t been well treated by the Udom Emmanuel administration”.
“The Eket-Ibeno road has abandoned likewise the Ibom Superhighway project despite destroying our buildings and farmlands which our parents use in sponsoring our education.
“Now the company is moving away from its equipment because it has not been mobilized. We won’t allow this company evacuates its equipment”.
