Two pupils who returned from their mother’s shop along Spring Road, Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State were rescued from being swept away after torrential rains caused landslides on the road.
Also, the rains submerged buildings and cut off the major access road to the Gorreti Girls Secondary School (GGSS) at the weekend.
It was gathered that the affected community in the heart of Ikot Ekpene metropolis hosts the General Hospital and other facilities currently under threat of being submerged as the tempo of downpours in the thick rainy season increased in the last couple of weeks.
Speaking with Straightnews, Inyang Ekpenyong, a local resident lamented that “the torrential rains have worsened our plights because we have been completely cut off from the rest of Ikot Ekpene, and the students in this Girls College have escaped being drowned many times.”
“Spring Road is located in the heart of Ikot Ekpene off Abak Road by the General Hospital. That is where all the drainages are being channeled,” he explained, lamenting that “the makeshift intervention measures to ease the pains of the pupils pose more danger.”
Asking the state government to shut the school and commenced major intervention work on the road, a commercial bus driver, Akaninyene Ubongabasi lamented that “I always park my bus on the other side before crossing this makeshift bridge to my house.”
“The other day, two pupils were returning from their mother’s shop along Spring Road, and as they were trying to cross the narrow bridge to the other side, one of them tripped and missed her steps.
“As she was struggling to regain balance, she fell into the gully and the sister, who rushed to rescue her, also was drawn into the running rain water which flows into a river.
“They were only saved because somebody sighted them and crossed to the other side of the river and pulled them out before being taken to the deeper side of the river,” he recalled.
“We have petitioned the state government, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to no avail,” Ubongabasi added.
Worried by the problem which has also cut-off many roads on the Uyo metroplis including Ikpa Road, Science Park Road and a portion of Calabar-Itu Road at Ntak Inyang in Itu Local Government Area, governor Udom Emmanuel, had at the last State Executive Council (SEC) meeting gave a marching order to the Commissioners of Environment and his Works’ counterpart, Prof. Eno Ibanga, to immediately intervene on the affected sites.
And the Commissioner for Environment and Solid Minerals, Sir Charles Udoh, has warned residents of flood-prone areas to vacate, assuring that government has concluded plans to fix the affected sites, but blamed the ongoing rainfalls as causing the delay.
“It is not the problem of money that is disturbing the work. We can’t mobilize contractors to the sites in this rainy season,” he said.
