Okon W. Nna-etuk
My village, Ibio Edem Urua, is in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area and borders with Ikot Anta Eneng Obom in Ukanafun Local Government Area. When the two villages were respectively in Northern Annang County Council and Western Annang County Council, even as they were all in Abak Division, they were always at loggerheads over land (boundary) dispute.
My uncle, the late Chief Nyong Nna-Etuk of Ibio Edem Urua and the late Chief Etim Umorok of Ikot Anta Eneng Obom were the arrowheads. Thank God the elders and chiefs survived it. I still can remember the last time I took the road by a motorcycle from Urua Offiong in Ibio Edem Urua through Esa Anyieokpon in Ikot Anta to burst into a point near Urua Council (or is it Consul; it is pronounced Urua Aconsul) on the road from Urua Obo Ekpo to Ikot Udobobo.
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It is my humble appeal to the two adjoining local government councils of Etim Ekpo and Ukanafun to invite the government of Akwa Ibom State to construct a road to link the farmlands lying between Ikot Anta Eneng Obom and Ibio Edem Urua. If the road is designed to run from Nkek Ndon Annan on Nsekhe–Ukanafun Road through Urua Consul on Obo Ekpo-Ikot Udobobo Road to Urua Offiong in Ibio Edem Urua, it will greatly benefit the villages and communities as well as Obong University, Obong Ntak which will be on the fringe of that road with all the vehicular and human traffic coming from Ukanafun.
My appeal here does not negate, neither is it intended to suggest a disregard for, the original erstwhile plan of the construction of the road originating from Obo Ekpo market in Nto Unang, Etim Ekpo to Anwa Ujo, Ikot Udo Obobo in Ukanafun. This road has always been in the plan since the Northern Annang County Council and Western Annang County Council days in the then Abak Division.
It goes from the old Obo Ekpo Market junction off Utu Etim Ekpo-Iwukem Road at Nto Unang through Ikot Edet, Ikot Anta Eneng Obom, Nkek Urua Akpan Udochen, Ikot Udobia and bursts into Ikot Udo Obobo on the road from Ikot Akpa Nkuk in Ukanafun to Iwukem/Azumini on the border of Akwa Ibom State and Abia State. It is such an important road that will enhance linkage between Northern Annang and Western Annang sections.
If this road is tarred, a spur from Urua Ekenyong at Ikot Edet/Ikot Anta Eneng Obom border could link it from there through Ikot Akpa Ntuen and Ikot Obiokpoho to the tarred road from Nseghe to Ikot Akpa Nkuk, Ukanafun. This would offer a better option of linking Ikot Obiokpoho to Urua Obo Ekpo than any other road suggested by any pressure group. It will connect a greater number of communities in the envisaged area.
It must be noted there is another road from Urua Etukudo junction, Ikot Mkporikpo on Utu Etim Ekpo-Iwukem Road that goes through Urua Obo Inyang and Okoyo bursting into Ikot Udo Obobo. From Ikot Udo Obobo (where the two roads from Obo Ekpo market junction and Uru Etukudo market junction) meet, there is a road that links to the popular Urua Udofa on the Imo River which lies behind Akwete in Abia State. Urua Udofa is a river port where goods come in from Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom State and Eleme in Rivers State. That road should be constructed by NDDC to link the river port on Urua Udofa (Edem Idim) to Ukanafun, Etm Ekpo, Ika, Essien Udim, Obot Akara and Umuahia.
Sometimes it feels like we are going backward in the part of Annang land I come from when I remember those rural roads I rode around on a bicycle and later a motorcycle in the 70s immediately after the Nigeria Civil War.
My uncle would send me on an errand to Ikot Okoro and I would be ready to oblige because I had the chance to ride his bicycle. Imagine I would ride from my village, Ibio Edem Urua, through Urua Obo, Ikot Edet, Ikot Ideh, Ikot Oku Usung, Ntak Afaha, Inen Abasi Atai, Ikot Akpakpan to Ikot Okoro. On my return I would branch off at Ntak Afaha to Idung Nneke to see my aunt who was married to Hon Johnson Udom before I would ride to Urua Uko in Nkek, Urua Akpan Udochen, Urua Aconsul in Ikot Anta and Urua Akenyong in Ikot Edet and finally Urua Edereobo in my village. Those roads were well maintained and paved.
I realised most of these roads were handled by county councils, pure local authorities and the native communities. Today, I cannot go to Ikot Akpa Nkuk from my village separated by about only nine kilometres. I will have to drive past Utu Etim Ekpo and branch off at Nkwot Ikono to burst at Nsekhe junction before I drive up from there to Ikot Akpa Nkuk.
I cannot travel with ease from my village to Ikot Okoro which was the headquarters of Southern Annang County Council. When there were no secondary health facilities near my village, one could ride a motorcycle, or even a bicycle, in the night from Obong Ntak to the hospital then at Ikot Okoro.
A few months ago, I had cause to attend an event in Ikot Edet and I had to drive from Abak through Ikot Oku Usung junction (the location was the Primary School opposite Prof Udoessien’s compound in his village). On my return, I decided to go from there to my village first before I got to Abak. I was surprised that there is no linkage between Iruo Itike and Urua Obo Ekpo. The road from Urua Obo Ekpo to Obong Utit Idim is gone and the Qua Iboe River passing through the region still remains a gulf (no bridge on that river) between Obong Utit Idim and Obong Ikot Akpan/Obong Ata Essien.
It is my strong belief that the Akwa Ibom State Government and in some cases with collaboration with Federal Government agencies like the NDDC could revamp these areas and make these access roads motorable for the development of the economy of the state.
Nna-etuk is a retired Director of Accounts in Akwa Ibom Government
