Isi-Uzo Pushes for Rehabilitation of Nkalagu-Nsukka Federal Road as Council Highlights Devt Feats

The Chairman of Isi-Uzo Local Government Council, Mr. Obiora Obeagu, has renewed call for the rehabilitation of the Nkalagu-Nsukka federal road, describing its poor condition as a major challenge despite the council's sustained efforts to keep the route motorable.

Speaking while receiving a tripartite assessment committee comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Civil Society Organisations, during an inspection tour of development projects in the council, Obeagu said the local government had committed substantial resources to maintaining the federal road to ease movement for residents.

He disclosed that Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State had personally inspected the road and assured the people of state government intervention. 

According to Obeagu, engagements with the Federal Ministry of Works also led to the commencement of work on the Ebenyi Umuhu bridge in Eha-Amufu before construction was later stalled.

The Chairman expressed optimism that both the state government's planned intervention and renewed federal action would eventually address the longstanding challenges affecting the road.

Highlighting the council's achievements, Obeagu said the local government reconstructed and redesigned its secretariat in Ikem, completed in 2024, with additional office spaces, an events hall, a renovated chairman's lodge and an upgraded headquarters clinic equipped with an ambulance. The entire secretariat complex was also asphalted.

He said the council had embarked on electricity projects worth over N210 million in Umualor, Ihenyi and Neke communities to boost economic activities, while more than four transformers had been installed alongside solar-powered street lights under the "Light Up Isi-Uzo" initiative.

On road infrastructure, Obeagu noted that the council constructed about two kilometres of roads in Eha-Amufu, including a concrete-span bridge. He added that Governor Peter Mbah had also constructed more than 21.7 kilometres of roads linking communities previously affected by insecurity, improving access to farmlands and enhancing security.

The chairman further listed interventions in education and agriculture, including bursaries and financial support for indigent students, distribution of farm inputs to farmers, and palliative programmes for widows and other vulnerable residents.

On security, Obeagu recalled that communities in Eha-Amufu suffered persistent attacks by armed bandits before the current administration came into office. He said the state government's intervention, including the deployment of about 100 combined security personnel to Ogbete Mgbuji, provision of operational vehicles, motorcycles, surveillance equipment and four drones for forest monitoring, had restored peace to the area.

He added that 122 local security personnel had been recruited to strengthen intelligence gathering in buffer communities, while the council spends about N5 million monthly to support security personnel stationed along the Ugwogo-Neke and Eha-Amufu-Nkalagu roads. 

He also noted that the state government provided relief materials to victims of the Umualor communal clash.

At the Security Joint Task Force base in Ogbete Eha-Amufu, the Commander, DSP Ezekwesili Ndukwe, said that peace had returned to the once troubled communities after one and a half years of sustained security operations.

According to him, farmers have returned to their farmlands and now carry out farming activities without fear of attacks by bandits.

Earlier, the Chairman of the NLC in Enugu State, Comrade Fabian Nwigbo, said the assessment tour was part of an independent project monitoring initiative jointly undertaken by the NLC, Civil Society Organisations and the NUJ for more than a decade.

He explained that the committee was established to independently verify government projects at the grassroots and present objective reports to the public.

"It is a tripartite committee made up of the NLC, Civil Society and the Media that has existed for over a decade. The Governor is working seriously in the local governments and that's why we have come to inspect the projects. 

"We are independent assessors so that when anyone talks about infrastructure in any local government, we would have assessed it and tell the people exactly what we saw, without addition or subtraction," Nwigbo said.

Obeagu welcomed the delegation, describing the exercise as an opportunity to assess the council's performance and identify areas requiring further improvement, while reiterating that governance remains centred on the welfare and security of the people.