By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
“I was living in tears for years over the deplorable road network in my Nkari clan because of its bad impact on the socio-economic lives of our people but Governor Udom Emmanuel came and wiped away my tears”, Obong Bassey Inuaeyen has said.
Obong Inuaeyen, an industrialist, and a 2007 governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, made the remarks during media chat with journalists in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
It would be recalled that the state government, recently graded the 15 kilometers Nkari road and broke the aged-long problem of lack of access road to the area. Again, on 31st of last month during the burial rites of late Arit Etimkpo Inuayen, mother of Obong Bassey Inuaeyen, Governor Emmanuel announced the state government plan to reconstruct the road.
Nkari clan is in Ini Local Government Area of the state and shares boundary with Abia State. The local government area is regarded as the food basket of the state.
According to Obong Inuaeyen, before the intervention by the Governor, the deplorable state of the Nkari road from Mbiabong Ikot Udofia roundabout traversing 10 villages to Umuahia in Abia state was a torn on the flesh of the people and had brought untold hardship on them.
He added that Governor Emmanuel’s gesture, has wiped away tears from his eyes, besides making history in Nkari clan, being first ever that the inhabitants whose main occupation is farming, would have good access road.
The reconstruction of the Nkari road is expected to boost commerce, socio-political lives of the people and reduce crime rates.
The affected communities include, Mbente, Ikot Uko, Ifa, Ikot Offrong, Awah Afia, Ikot Akpan, Ikot Etim and Ikot Enang, and Obbrong etc.
Obong Inuaeyen, while commending the Governor for providing the intervention, appealed to him not to renege in his promise to reconstruction the road in view its unifying factor to the entire Nkari clan which hitherto had been having recurrent communal crises which at each incident, led to loss of lives and property.
He also called on the state government and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to declare Nkari, an emergency area for development as the clan currently lack essential amenities such as electricity, hospital, portable water and roads.
Also of immediate needs include, empowerment programme for the youth in order to keep them away from being used as weapon of destruction by desperate politicians and police post to secure the area being a border communities with Igbos.
Lamenting that the clan has Internally Displace People (IDP) occasioned by the 2013 communal crises where three villages were razed down, Obong Inuaeyen also appealed to the state government to send relief materials to the affected people in order to assist them rebuild their burnt houses.
