Urgent Call: “Fix Our Road Under Your Construction Firm” — Arondizuogu people Urge Roudo Engineering, Tony Chukwu to Uphold Company’s Mission, Vision Statements.

ThankGod Emeh.

The whole Communities of Arondizuogu town in Ideato North local government area of Imo has petitioned the management of Roudo Construction and Engineering Nigeria Limited and its Chief Executive Officer, Chief Tony Chukwu to return to site to reconstruct the dilapidated 51 kilometer-Oba/Arondizuogu/Okigwe expressway which failed in less than 90 days of finishing work on the road in 2018/2019.

The communities through Arondizuogu Patriotic Union had in serial letters to Roudo Construction and Engineering Nigeria Limited especially in a particular letter dated 6th October 2021 demanded that the Federal Expressway be considered for a reconstruction yet nothing to that effect has been done from both the government and contracted company thereby causing more catastrophe in the area.

“The people of Arondizogu Ancient Kingdom has made several appeal to Chief Tony Chukwu and the management of the company severally but he keep making empty promises”

According to records, the road connecting 5 states namely Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Rivers, and Anambra was awarded for about 12 Billion naira and the money was paid complete to the contractor but his works on the road did not justify the pay as he did a very shabby and poor quality job.

Consequently, the contractor abandoned the site when the road failed the following year resulting to the now completely impassable state in sharp contrast to the state of the road when the contract was awarded to NDDC.

In the foregoing, the Arondizuogu nation has expressed worry over the worsened state of the road which has ignited criminal activities in Ikpaora, Ikpeze-Uno, Obiinetiti, Ndimoko junctions where the people of the area are being killed, raped, robbed and disposed of their possessions on daily basis hence the organization wrote a letter to the member representing Ideato North and South Federal Constituency, Hon. Pascal Obi asking him to intervene and get things right while charging Roudo Nigeria Limited, Chief Tony Chukwu in another letter to live up to the Mission and Vision Statements of the company which proposes it be a company renowned for world-class engineering and quality craftsmanship with its mission statement of delivering good road infrastructure as an economic driver in any developing economy (of which Arondizuogu is one) as well as getting the road rightly done to stand the taste of time.

In the letter signed by
President- General, Mazi Peter A. Obiagwu and Secretary- General,
Engr. Chinedu Okpareke, the Arondizuogu Patriotic Union called the attention of the federal lawmaker, Hon. Pascal Obi over the Failure of Arondizuogu-Okigwe Federal Expressway.

Assessing the FAILURE OF ARONDIZUOGU – OKIGWE ROAD IN LESS THAN 2 YEARS as constructed recently under the NDDC Road Reconstruction Program and as well recognizing Roudo’s vision and mission statements in the letter, the host communities received with elation the reconstructed road, especially the Arondizuogu-Umulolo portion, “which failure not only stunted economic activities in our community but also provided major spots for kidnappers and armed robbers to attack unsuspecting victims”

They added that, “just within weeks of the road being reconstructed in 2018/2019, it started failing”, while noting that since the beginning of this year, the Arondizuogu-Umulolo portion has failed completely thereby imposing untold hardships on the people and visitors.

“In the past 6 months, the adverse economic impact is severe, worsened by reports of over 10 kidnappings and armed robberies in that stretch of road over the same period”

“We are writing to you as representatives of Arondizuogu people, the major
beneficiaries of the Arondizuogu-Okigwe axis of the Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Federal
Expressway”

“The road does not serve only Arondizuogu people, indeed it is a major road that connects two commercial centres in two major states in southeast: Nnewi in Anambra State and Okigwe in Imo State”

According to Arondizuogu Patriotic Union, the Arondizuogu-Umulolo portion of the road had failed for almost 15 years, but Roudo Nigeria Ltd, a company owned by Chief Sir Tony Chukwu, an illustrious son of Imo State and a devout and God-fearing Christian did some emergency remedial works about 3 years ago, but those emergency repairs though highly appreciated were not designed to be long-lasting.

“Since January 2021, the Arondizuogu-Umulolo portion has failed completely. In
the past 13 months the adverse economic impact is severe, worsened by reports
of over 18 kidnappings and armed robberies in that stretch of road over the same
period”

“The communities affected by the failed road have staged several protests to
attract federal government attention”

“We hereby appeal to you Sir to come to our help and push for a total reconstruction of the road as palliative measures do not last beyond one rainy
season. We appeal to you to investigate whether the re-construction of the road was captured in the 2022 budget for federal ministry of Works or NNDC or any other relevant MDA in the Federal Government. If not captured, we will
appreciate it if there is a push for it to be captured in a supplementary budget given the importance of the road to the economic survival of the host communities and the south east in general”

“Kindly count on our continued support and prayers as you represent us at the
National Assembly dutifully and honourably”

“We are tired of begging, we want the government to intervene. We are calling on Government, relevant bodies, security sectors to demand Chief Tony Chukwu to come fix the road”

“We can’t sale, Our economic activities is crumbling, our tourist life is almost non existent. Government should please save our souls”

Recall, the people of the area again on Saturday May 7 took to the streets and roads in the locality with placards stressing that their roads are typical death traps that have not only cut them off their comparative economic advantages but have led to avoidable deaths of Arondizuogu indigenes and visitors.

The protests witnessed an intimidating crowd with bold inscriptions of “Fix the Road and Stop the Robbery”, “Save Our Soul”, “Government Our Last Hope”, “Fix the Road and Stop the Rape” among others on their placards at Ikpaeze-Uno, Ndiejezie, Ndimoko down to Ikpaora bad spots.

…News Corner.