By Michael Ovat- Awka
Motorists and commuters over the weekend, lamented over challenges they encountered in making use of the Onitsha-Owerri Road as a result of the downpour which occurred late on Saturday.
Aside from the gridlock the road now suffers as a result of its deplorable state, a broken-down truck at the Amanator Bus Stop made the road difficult to access for motorists.
Tribune Online gathered that the truck broke down in the area while coming from the Oba section of the road.
Our correspondent, during a visit to the road, saw some men carrying out repair works on the truck while motorists and commuters struggled with the remaining portion for their movement.
Also, it was the same story for road users at the Upper Iweka end of the Oguta Road, Onitsha, as the flooding and refuse dumps which scattered on the road, hampered vehicular and non-vehicular movement on the busy road.
The refuse dumps evacuated from various gutters littered the road were hampering the smooth flow of both vehicular and non-vehicular movements as people struggled to pass through.
Road users scampered to safety each time a containerised lorry approach.
Besides, the downpour did not help matters for road users as it was accompanied by floods, thereby making some of the roads almost impassable.
The situation caused a standstill on both lanes of the road, especially from Ogboazun/Enamel/Amanator axis as people were seen trekking on one side of the lane.
A road user, Mr. Gilbert Ogwu said, “This Onitsha-Owerri Road is a critical road for us in the South-East and it has been left abandoned, thereby making us go through agony.
“It has become almost unmotorable; motorists are no longer safe and we are begging both the Federal Government and the Anambra State Government to come to our rescue. They should pity us; the suffering is just too much.”
Another road user, Chima Ike, said, “We are suffering so much on this road. Onitsha has big buildings here and there, but no road. This is not good for a commercial city.
“Despite all these, we also suffer from extortion at military checkpoints. Look at the way they have blocked more than half of the road in the name of police checkpoint and are using it to extort us.”
