By Wordshot Amaechi
One year after being sworn into office as the Governor of Enugu State, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has been commended by the residents of Nsukka town for his achievements in office so far, particularly on the extensive road constructions and rehabilitations being undertaken by his government in the area.
Residents of the town who spoke to THE CITIZEN showered encomiums on the governor for his exceptional performances in various aspects of governance since the inception of his administration.
The Ogige market section of Enugu road being rehabilitated from Nsukka to Opi, has been a beehive of construction activities. The scope and sophistication of the drainage work being undertaken by the contactors between Ugwuoye to Bishop Shanahan Memorial Hospital stretch of the road was quite so extensive that on daily basis hundreds of appreciative members of the public gather to watch.
A driver with a popular mass transportation company, Thomas Eze, who regularly plied the road captured the general feeling of the road users when he told THE CITIZEN how the rehabilitation of that road could easily be one of the most appreciated projects of the governor by the people of the area.
“Honestly, the governor got it right with this road. Everything about it from Opi to Nsukka is just too much. Look at the quality of work being done. Look at the beauty of the road. At some point, it feels and looks like you are driving through Abuja roads”, he said.
For Ernest Maduka, an Engineering student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the drainage works showed there was nothing impossible about tackling certain structural engineering challenges found in our physical environment, if there was the will to do so by concerned authorities. He was admiring the site and taking pictures when THE CITIZEN approached him.
He said, “As an engineer to be, I find this job quite professional and up to the highest level of standard the problem demanded. This deep excavation which is up to thirty meters takes a gradient from the starting point where it will collect the water that normally flooded that section of the road and gently slopes through the cut hill to empty at the exit points. When this people are through with this construction, with its double layer drainage channel, you will never see a single drop of water on that road. It would only be told as history that water once gathered there like a lake”.
Leonard Amobi, a trader in Ogige market, in his own assessment of the government, posited that with what the government was doing round the state, the people that voted it in would feel a huge sense of fulfillment. “Enugu people are happy with the government they have. The governor is working everywhere regardless of the fact there is no money now. From what I have seen, he is doing many roads in Nsukka; that Ninth Mile by-pass, and then one other very important one I saw in Nkanu when I went for a traditional marriage. My friend was from there. He told me the road and the bridge were impassable, making them to take longer routes home until Gburugburu rehabilitated them”.
For Madam Uche Ossai, an Nsukka indigene resident in Abuja, the governor would always be commended for his visions for the state.
“While appreciating the various projects being undertaken by this government we have today in Enugu, it is most heartwarming to note that Governor Ugwuanyi’s response to the Ukpabi/Nimbo herdsmen attack easily stood him out as a leader. His measured and calculated approach to the very volatile situation doused tension without pouring cold water on the bruised feelings of the people. He showed leadership and maturity. Some would have responded in a way that would have worsened the situation, leading to more bloodshed. What he did was good then and is still good now, in taking care of the whole situation”, she concluded.
