Help came the way of residents of Umuoma Nzerem, a community in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State, recently as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) commenced the construction of the Umuezeala Ama/Afor Nzerem Road in the area.
For over two decades, the community had been completely cut off from other communities in the area. However, residents trooped out recently to welcome Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu, who represents Imo North at the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, along with his team and some officials of the NDDC. They were there to inspect the ongoing work on the road. At the end of the tour, the team expressed satisfaction with the job done so far.
The community also expressed gratitude to The Sun Publishing Limited for its reports on the pathetic state of roads in the area. Senator Uwajumogu, it was gathered, facilitated the construction of the road, which was abandoned by the state government.
And in appreciation of Uwajumogu’s efforts, the apex body of the community, Umuoma Nzerem Progressive Union (UPU), Lagos branch, recently passed a vote of confidence on the senator and assured him of the people’s unflinching support for his re-election in 2019. They praised the lawmaker and Chief Tony Chukwu for facilitating the road construction.
In a communiqué signed by the chairman of UPU, Comrade Vitalis Esiagu, the group resolved to back President Muhammadu Buhari and Senator Uwajumogu for another term, while it also threw its weight behind Senator Ifeanyichukwu Araraume for governor of Imo State in 2019.
Chief Linus Onyenanu, patron of UPU, Lagos branch, thanked Uwajumogu for bringing an end to the sufferings of the people of Umuoma Nzerem due to the poor state of roads in the area. He explained reasons for their decision to support President Buhari and Uwajumogu, noting that the agricultural policy of the Federal Government under Buhari, coupled with the ongoing agricultural project attracted to Nzerem by the senator, had boosted economic activities in the community.
Onyenanu noted that the road, when completed, would link Nzerem with other communities and would also guarantee easy movement of persons and goods to markets in the state.
He pleaded with the federal government and the Imo State government to work on the other bad roads in the area. These, he said, include Umuaguma, Umuosu/Alike, Isieke and Umueleawo, all in Umuoma Nzerem.
“We have, through different constitutional means, expressed our worries over the worsening state of the roads, especially during the rainy season,” he said.
While commending Uwajumogu, the community leader regretted that other representatives of the area at various levels of government have remained apathetic to the plight of their constituents. Chief Hipolite Esiagu, former chairman of Umuoma Nzerem Progressive Union, Lagos branch, said it had become obvious who the true representatives of the people were. He praised Uwajumogu for identifying with the people of the community who, he noted, had continued to experience severe hardship daily due to the condition of roads in the area. He explained that peasant farmers were usually subjected to unimaginable pain while trying to access other communities or move their produce to nearby markets. He noted that the Umuezeala Ama/Afor Nzerem Road would help most children access their schools, explaining that erosion had cut off some villages from where schools were situated.
