Following the recent misinformation via a video made by one Mr. Chinedu Obilor regarding the ongoing construction of the Etitiulo-Itumbauzo road in Bende Federal Constituency, Chief Whip of the Senate and the Senator representing Abia North Senatorial zone, Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu has confirmed ownership of the project stating that the ecological site project is under his care and will be fixed in addition to a 4km road.
The Senator made this statement in a post on his verified Facebook page clarifying that the road in question is under his care and not Hon. Benjamin Kalu as falsely mentioned by Mr. Obilor who recorded the video.
Addressing the current situation, Sen. Kalu stated that since his resumption into office just three years ago, he has facilitated over 63 roads in the entire Abia North Senatorial zone with are of standard quality and verifiable, adding that the Itumbauzo road will not be any different.
The Senator also mentioned that the degradation of the road is a result of erosion which was not captured initially in the budget.
The post reads:
“The concerns raised by a citizen of Abia North on the damage done on the newly constructed Bende -Etitiulor road have been duly noted for action.
However, it is important that people get clarifications before making unnecessary utterances.
In my three years in the senate and by God’s grace, I have paid more attention to roads than other projects. I have been able to complete more than 63 community roads while several others are ongoing.
For the Bende- Etitiulor road which has a part in a bad condition, I wish to call the attention of the community that we have received the complaints and will continue to re-energize work on it.
Without holding brief for the contractor who is building that particular road, I wish to inform the good people of Bende that the bad part of the road is as a result of erosion. The erosion was also not captured in the budget. The contractor was expected to do a straight road only to run into a gully erosion. The contractor in question has tried to deliver the road within the ambit of the budget and bill of quantity but not without challenges as that part is deeply erosion-prone.
Nevertheless, we have taken note of it and we will put in more funds on the road in the next budget. We intend to finish it up to 4 KM
Whatever we are doing for the people of Abia North is in good faith and to better the livelihood of our people. There are many communities that have never witnessed a tarred road and we are working hard to do as many roads as possible.
I understand that many have forgotten that we are neither state government nor an executive arm of the federal government but legislators. We have put in more than efforts to get these projects delivered to the people and we expect that better channels should be used as feedback on any of our projects.”
