Enugu Roads (Then & Now)

work still to be done and many of the roads already fixed are already being damaged

The first time I entered Enugu was in late 2018 and I remember being acutely aware of how bad the roads were from 9th mile into Enugu. The alternative route into Enugu via the Awka-Onitsha route was so bad that the driver had to take the 9th mile — Ngwo — Milken hills — New Market road. The road improved when we got to Ngwo and into Enugu, the trip was relatively smooth.

There was a time when Enugu roads were known as death traps due to the high number of accidents daily, but some governors have made the rehabilitation of Enugu roads a priority, including the incumbent hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. The incumbent governor has in recent years, ordered the repair of some roads in Enugu.

In this article, we’ll be highlighting some of the roads that have been fixed, roads that have not been fixed, and causing Enugu people problems and some challenges facing Enugu citizens in their daily commute.

ROADS THAT HAVE BEEN FIXED

1. Nike lake junction road: During my time as a youth corper in Enugu, I was posted to Enugu East LGA just beside the Nike lake resort and I passed this road every week on my way to/from Community Development Service (CDS). The road was patchy in places which wasn’t much of an issue for me on my way to CDS. On my way back, however, especially if I was leaving the LGA late (say around 4 pm), I would be caught in a hold-up due to the sheer number of cars trying to navigate the T-junction on the road. In my time away from Enugu, the road has been fixed already, easing the traffic around T-junction somewhat and from Abakpa-Nike to Emene. While there are still some challenges, the daily traffic jam in the area has reduced, to an extent.
2. Subway road: Located just after Dustbin bus stop and before the entrance to Ebeano tunnel, this stretch of road had numerous bad patches on the road which caused hold-ups during rush hour/closing times. As the road connects New Market/old Park to Emene/Abakpa/GRA and other areas in Enugu via Polo Park, it is one of the busiest routes in the city. Due to the condition of the road and the sheer number of vehicles that ply it daily, the governor had the road fixed as well, easing the daily commute of Enugu workers.
3. Enugu-Nsukka and Nsukka roads: Before the tenure of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi began, the Enugu-Nsukka road was terrible. Traveling to/from Nsukka and Enugu ordinarily should take about 45 minutes but with the state of the roads, trips there used to take as much as 2 hours. This is now a thing of the past as travelers can now make their usual quick trips between both cities due to the rehabilitation of the Enugu-Nsukka route via Abakpa-Nike. Additionally, many bad roads inside Nsukka have been fixed. The state of the fixed roads inside the town was so bad before that many residents could not even access their own homes by car, but now that has all changed.

ROADS THAT ARE STILL BAD

Last year a friend visited Enugu from Port Harcourt and since he rarely visited and was around for just one day, he made plans to see three of his friends that night before he left the next day.

Later that afternoon, around 3 pm, he was held up at work and promised to join us later. Now, he worked at 9th mile at the time so we decided to just head on to Trans Ekulu and when he got off work we’d have him meet us there.

A couple of hours later, we’d just sat down to eat when he called saying he had reserved a table for us all at Bush bar and that we should join him instead. Since we were already at Trans Ekulu however, we decided to play the “majority” card and have him join us instead but he refused.

According to him, Trans Ekulu roads were too bad and he didn’t want to risk driving his car there and apart from that, he’d inevitably be caught in the hold-up on the Trans Ekulu-GRA Bridge. Since neither group was willing to budge, our friend eventually returned to Port Harcourt without seeing him.

1. Trans Ekulu: As mentioned above, many Trans Ekulu roads are bad enough that some people flat out refuse to go there for any reason. At Damija junction, the present administration tried to decongest the hold-up thereby making it a one-way road. However, there’s still a traffic jam there every day because vehicles coming from Trans Ekulu phase six still keep coming towards the opposite direction, ensuring that the vast majority of vehicles are still diverted to the Trans-Ekulu bridge. This is a problem as this is the only route that leads straight to GRA. An alternative route is to go down Upper North and via the expressway but that’s a problem as well because the expressway isn’t good either.
2. Monarch: frequent visitors to this area know how bad the roads are. From ESBS, I’d usually take a Keke napep going to Monarch along with three other passengers, and whenever we got to the Monarch bridge, we’d start climbing in and out of ditches till we reached our destination. I passed the road as a passenger in a car once and it was terrible, we only moved smoothly once we got to ESBS. An alternative route is to pass the expressway and come down at Ndiagu Amaechi junction and pass the back route to Monarch but even that route is bumpy and almost impassable during the rainy season. There’s a third route to Monarch through Timber junction and via Osina road. That road is almost as bad as the Monarch road, however.
3. Nsukka: Nsukka residents were glad when Governor Ugwuanyi approved the rehabilitation of the Opi-Nsukka dual carriageway as one of his first projects. In the aftermath of the repair, however, they found out that there was a new problem as flooding on that road became commonplace. It became so bad that several lives and property have been lost as a result of the flooding, prompting the Nsukka Landlords and Residents Association to write a letter to the governor imploring him to fix the drainage system.

CHALLENGES FACING ENUGU PEOPLE IN THEIR DAILY COMMUTE

I spoke to an Enugu resident who regularly plies the Trans Ekulu-GRA-New Market route and he had this to say:

Interviewer: Hello sir, how are you doing today?

Mr Emeka: I’m fine thank you.

Interviewer: I’d like to ask you a couple of questions about your experiences driving on Enugu roads, please

Mr Emeka: Sure, go ahead.

Interviewer: Well, for one what do you think about the roads already fixed by the Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi administration?

Mr Emeka: He has fixed some roads, but he needs to do more. I think you were aware of a period last year when the “ EnuguRoadsChallenge “ hashtag was trending on twitter because of the state of bad Enugu roads?

Interviewer: Yes, I remember that.

Mr Emeka: Well, many of these roads have been fixed and the potholes in them filled up. It’s easier for me to drive around Enugu now.

Interviewer: All right sir, that’s good to hear. Are there any suggestions you’d like to make to the people in power?

Mr Emeka: Oh, yes. Some of the fixed roads are already breaking apart, especially at Emene, and in some places where the traffic is really busy, we could do with some flyovers as well. Something has to be done about that NOWAS route especially, the amount of traffic passing through the area makes placing a flyover there very important. The roads at Abakpa need widening as well.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time, sir. Have a great day.

Mr Emeka: You too, man.

In conclusion, research from the numerous article reports and anecdotal evidence from residents shows that while Enugu people are grateful for the work being done to fix the roads, they feel there’s a lot of work still to be done and many of the roads already fixed are already being damaged again.

There needs to be more deliberate decisions in who gets awarded the road contracts. Preferably made public. So public outcry does not fall on only the government.

For what is worth doing, is what doing well.

For a comprehensive list of works done on many of the roads, you can check out this Discover Enugu article.

Originally published at http://discoverenugu042.wordpress.com on September 28, 2020.