The stoppage of work at the Second Niger Bridge, which formed part of the ailments of South East people, was read to President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on a two-day working visit to Ebonyi State for possible solution.
Chief John Nnia Nwodo, President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, who reeled out the ailment Monday, also told President Buhari that the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu was under serious threat, while all infrastructures in the South East geopolitical zone have gone bad.
Addressing Buhari on the myriads of problems facing the zone, Nwodo said such had contributed to the restiveness in the area predating the Buhari administration, became degenerated since the present government came into power.
According to him, “The Enugu-Port Harcourt Road is in an extremely bad condition and tortuous to our people. The Ninth Mile Oturkpo Road is a car raker. The Aba-Ikot Ekpene Road is largely unmotorable. Work on the Second Niger Bridge has stopped, while the River Niger itself remains unnavigable due to the non-implementation of the approved dredging contract.
“Our exit by air is also threatened and the poor state of Enugu international runway a few days ago, Ethiopian Airline tyres were damaged as it was landing on that airport threatening the lives of the passengers there.
“The terminal building and the cargo warehouse have also been abandoned. Our local industries and small-scale enterprises are folding up not only due to the little allocation of revenue due to our state and local governments, because of the marginalisation in the creation of local governments and states, but also because only nine percent of nationally generated power is allocated to the South East.
“Gas reserves that abound in the South East are being piped to Lagos and Northern Nigeria without any of it around the industrial clusters in our states.
“Unemployment, hunger and starvation pervade our land. This is a very dangerous environment for peace owing to wide spread dissatisfaction.
“These problems predated your administration, but have reached a quintessence under your watch. We believe as a general trained to access dangerous circumstances and equipped with courage to confront them decisively, you will seize the opportunity to give our people the much-needed assurance of a quick remedial action.
“Our governors are doing their best given their limited resources in view of the declining revenue of the country. We propose that the concession of federal roads in the South East be given to the South East governors so that partnering with the private investors, we can build the roads ourselves to our taste and standards, assuring you of its durability.
“This will therefore make it possible for the Federal Government to have enough funds to take up the railway task in the South East and expand and upgrade them to standard pages.
“Your Excellency, I have no doubts in my mind after our last discussions with you, that you will decisively and expeditiously address the many issues we presented to you and some of which I have highlighted today.”
Also speaking, Very Rev. Fr. Abraham Nwali, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Ebonyi State chapter, said that the Christian religious leaders in the country were praying for freedom if religious worship as was contained in the constitution.
The CAN Chairman urged President Buhari to insist that that provision of freedom of worship was kept.
