By James Lukpata
Instead of voting for the right person that will consider fixing Ukelle Road you people prefer to vote for those who can offer you some money and personal help…
The above complain is a loose interpretation of one of the constituents’ outburst haven gone through some difficulty due to the deplorable state oof the road in recent time.
The 47 km North Ukelle Road stretches from Yahe to Wanihem, a boarder town between Cross River and Benue States, in Northern Senatorial District, which is part of the region that produce the incumbent Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade.
Ukelle, a densely populated six political wards, has continued to suffer neglect from both the government and some of its illustrious sons and daughters working with the present government.
As agrarian communities, a lot of constituents depend on their farm yields and access to market where they can sell their produce to earn living but due to impassable road in the area, all effort to have an improved standard of living have eluded the people.
Yahe-Wanokom-Wanikade-Wanihem road
A few days ago, some concern youths of the communities volunteered to embark on an inspection tour to ascertain the level of damage the road has caused residents and why several efforts from various youth groups in the constituency have not attracted the desire result.
Particularly , the ‘Ukelle Youth Development Forum’ embarked on No-road-No-election campaign during the 2020 Cross River North Senatorial bye election with the hope to attract the government attention.
In spite of the several awards made on the road with the last N3.8 billion Governor Ayade claimed to have re-awarded the road, no positive impact has been seen yet.
Difficulty in earning a living and loss of lives due to accident occasioned by the terrible state of the road remain on the increased.
Constituents have no access to the current voter’s card registration exercise because there is no access road to the constituency.
The constituency has been underrepresented time and again based on lack of access to timely information simply because of the poor road network which has also denied constituents access to basic infrastructural facilities across the constituency.