John Nwaigwe
Following Senator Akobundu’s Intervention, Senate Resolves to Appropriate Sufficient Funds for Speedy Completion of Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road
Following a motion raised on the floor of the Senate by the Senator representing Abia Central Senatorial District, Senator Austin Akobundu, over the dilapidated condition of the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Federal Road, the Senate, after a robust debate that followed the motion and the prayers by Akobundu, resolved to appropriate sufficient funds in the 2025 budget for the speedy completion of the road.
Recall that Senator Akobundu, during plenary on Wednesday, had called the attention of the Senate to the state of disrepair of the road and the sufferings it has been causing road users for the past 30 years and that all efforts by both the state and feferal governments to get it fixed have failed.
In resolving to appropriate sufficient funds for the speedy completion of the road in the 2025 budget, the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro who called for the amendment of the senate resolution to include allocation of sufficient funds for the completion of the road project, lamented that, based on Senator Akobundu’s account, the road has remained inexplicably deplorable for too long, and that the Senate must take concrete action to ensure its total overhaul and speedy completion this time around.
The Senate, therefore, resolved to vote sufficient funds for the road’s completion in the 2025 budget. This resolution means that the bureaucratic and draggy funding of the road by the NNPC through the Road Tax Credit Scheme of the federal government will be set aside for a more effective direct allocation of funds for the project by the Senate.
