Senator makes case for Anambra, Enugu boundary roads

The senator representing Anambra North senatorial district, Tony Nwoye, has called for an urgent rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Onitsha-33-Otuocha-Adani Road boundary that connects Anambra and Enugu states due to its socio-economic importance to the country in general.

This was even as the Senate has “urged the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, under the Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme to capture and include the important road as a project to be prioritised, funded, and to be awarded/executed through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.”

Senator Nwoye, in a motion to that effect sponsored during plenary on Tuesday, recalled the government’s decision to seek alternative sources for funding critical national projects to increase the stock of infrastructure through initiatives such as private sector partnerships, SUKUK funds, and the NNPCL/FIRS Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, without which the country cannot grow.

He said the 48-kilometre ‘Trunk A’ road, which is “a major economic artery in the Onitsha and Omambala regions of Anambra and Kogi states, which traverses the GRA, Onitsha-33-Otuocha-Adani-Enugu State, and Kogi State, has dilapidated, thus leading to loss of lives and properties.”

The lawmaker added that “the road connects many agrarian communities and also the major food basket of the South East region known for rice farming and other arable crops like yam, cassava, potato, and corn.”

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Failure to attend to such a “critical national project,” according to him, can lead to food scarcity and untold hardship.

In its resolutions, the Senate also urged the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to urgently commence design for the road, once it is captured for funding by the NNPCL/FIRS, as part of measures to guarantee food security and enhance the security of lives and properties.

The Red Chamber further directed its Committees on Petroleum (Upstream), Works, and Legislative Compliance, when constituted, to ensure the implementation of the resolutions.