Recently, many dignitaries of the Benue State Government stock unprecedentedly passed through Aliade-Mbakine-Obarike Ito Road to get to Oju LGA, for functions.
Of particular note were the Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Ekpe Ogbu and Special Adviser on Religion and Civil Society, Onah Blessed Emmanuel.
The two dignitaries represented Governor Samuel Ortom at the commissioning of constituency projects at Oju II State constituency and at Agidegbe IDPs Camp for flag off of distribution of relief items to the displaced persons in the camp, respectively. The Speaker of the state Assembly, Rt. Hon. Titus Uba, Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chris Adaji and other members of the Assembly passed through the road to get to Oju II.
Understandably, these government officials and many unnamed others used the road because Awajir-Oju road remains blocked since the wake of the escalation of Bonta-Ukpute-army clashes.
This is despite the candid efforts of the Ortom led state government to end the crisis and return peace and nomalcy to the area.
For the avoidance of doubt about the blockade on the Oju-Awajir Road, the Executive Secretary, Benue State Primary Healthcare Board, Bem Ageda, escaped death by the whiskers in the hands of militiamen in between Achoho and Bonta axis of the road. We gathered that Agada was on his way to attend the commissioning of projects in Oju II on Friday when he was stopped and asked to sit on the ground and identify himself. He was threatened with death but because he was of Jechira from Vandeikya he was freed and turned back.
First, we cannot help but wonder how the governor’s representatives and all the dignitaries possibly got to Oju by road. Did they fly over the gullies and ditches which have for many years been the metaphors for the untarred and unconstructed Aliade-Mbakine-Obarike Road? And if the representatives of the governor were actually in and drove through the unbelievably decrepit road, we would like to ask how they felt about that road.
The road, it was learnt, had been awarded for umpteenth time for construction by sccessive administrations. Yet its construction has never seen the light of day, owing to government-contractual kickbacks and other forms of corruption. Governor Ortom once reeling from anger over the non-implementation of the contract at some point slammed the last contractor with a 30-day-altimatum to resume work, to no avail.
The Governor’s representatives, no doubt, must have been shocked at the plight of Oju and Obi people over their roads condition: Otukpo-Oju road has collapsed and or in its complete state of disrepair. The alternative route for the people of Oju and Obi to link with the state capital, Makurdi used to be the now-blocked Awajir-Oju road.
For the areas in the state that boast of numerous agricultural, cultural, natural, tourist and historical endowments of international repute which have attracted international tourists, it is inconceivable that government could neglect the roads to the areas and out of them — Oju and Obi.
The sufferings of Oju and Obi residents and people who have businesses in the area and other users of the main roads to the areas have gotten to a head, so unbearable for the people such that the Igede community has organised and initiated self-help efforts to grade and laterite the Aliade-Mbakine-Obarike state government owned road in order to make the road which is the only option for the Igede people to ply to and fro Makurdi now.
The Igede 2023 Project whose members cut across home and the Diaspora are the ones pooling resources together, with a single largest donation so far being N800 000 and minimum N500, showing the importance the people have attached to the road.
The self-help initiative is primarily to make the Aliade-Mbakine-Obarike road passable and ease the sufferings of the people. It is also ostensibly to draw the attention of Governor Ortom and President Muhammadu Buhari to the plights of residents, motorists and other road users as a result of neglect and abandonment of the state and federal governments’ roads in the state and Igedeland in particular.
Truly, both the Federal Government and Benue State Government have been unfair to Oju and Obi, in spite of their status as tourism destinations, especially Oju.
In addition to the large population of people who live in Oju, the area is a host to a number of prime establishments such as the the state owned college of education, Oju.
While we commend the Igede community for the noble self-help efforts on the Aliade-Mbakine-Obarike road, we call on both the Federal and the Benue State governments to, without further delay, urgently fix the road as well as Otukpo-Oju road, to revive economic activities and make life easier for the people.
The state government is particularly urged to cue in to the vistas opened on the Aliade-Mbakine-Obarike road through self-help by the Igede community and give it the much fully needed attention.
jamesibechi.com 
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