Amidst the sprawling streets and roads in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, one can hardly believe that there are streets which have been taken over by weeds and mud.Iman Street, just off the popular Aka Road, is one of such streets. Parts of the street have been overtaken by weeds and mud. In the rainy season, the street is cut off from other streets.A resident, Mr. Christopher Sylvester, said when they approached the government on the need to repair and upgrade the road, they were told that it had been allocated to the Niger Delta Development Commission, for repair.He said, We took photographs of the street and adjoining roads and took them to the present Commissioner for Works, Mr. Don Etim. He confirmed the earlier position that the work had been allocated to the NDDC, and that it is not the responsibility of the state government to repair the road.NDDC constructed a road on Enwe Street by Nsasak. They also worked on few other streets near Udo-Tonuboh Street, Nung Atai, and those other streets before Christian Secondary School. We did not know that our own street was allocated to NDDC. The NDDC should be mandated to start the work on our street.Places like New Apostolic Road, Ata Inim Street, Inim Etok Akpan Lane, Udo Ekong Streetopposite University of Uyohave also been overtaken by weeds.Contract for the construction of some of the streets were allegedly awarded during former Governor Victor Attahs administration but the contractors abandoned the roads after laterite had been laid on them. During the present administration of Godswill Akpabio, some of the roads were graded but also later abandoned.In Ata Inim Street, a woman was seen clearing weeds. The weeds have completely overtaken the road on the upper side of the street, which links Udo Umana Street.A resident, who identified himself simply as Iniubong, said the residents had approached the government on different occasions to repair the road.He said, We have appealed to the government on many occasions but they did not do anything about our plight. We just had to let things be. We hope that one day, the government will remember this street.There was a time they (government) tried to repair the road, suddenly they abandoned the work, removed their machines and left. We have been suffering since then. It is always terrible during rainy seasons.A resident of Udo Ekong Street, Mrs. Uche Okon, urged the government to intervene and carry out urgent repair in the area.She alleged that the government was in the habit of abandoning streets perceived to be inhabited by political enemies of the government.When contacted, the Commissioner for Works refuted the allegation that the streets were allocated to the NDDC. He said that the insinuation was pure absurdity as all the streets in the state capital belonged to the state government.I dont know how a street can belong to the NDDC. The streets are in Akwa Ibom, so they belong to the state government. There is no way we can allocate a street to the NDDC, but if they have already intervened by repairing some of the streets, we cannot stop them. We are going to look into the problem on the streets, Etim said.
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