Amankwo Imezi Oghe Community in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State has no access road despite the sum of N101 billion 2021 budget approved by the state for capital expenditure.
The state in its budget review said she carried out massive construction work in both urban and rural communities. She claims to have completed 270.059 kilometres of rural and urban roads. Road constructions the state claims were done under Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) Phase 2.
The state further claims to have constructed 49 kilometres of concrete asphalting roads under the RAMP Phase 1.
Good as this sounds, the people of Amankwo Imezi Oghe Community are yet to benefit from the state RAMP project while residents continue to battle the bad road.
Although MAWA Foundation does not readily have the information on how Enugu State Government released the N101 billion 2021 approved budget to the MDAs, it is unclear how the Amankwo Imezi Oghe Community road continues to be this deplorable despite the huge approval meant for capital expenditure.
Mr. Okey Onaji who spoke to MAWA Foundation, said the despicable condition of Amankwo Imezi Oghe Community road which was exposed by the “Enugu Voice” a civic organization, is not an exception in the state. He, however, pointed out that in Awgu local government and other communities, there are many rural dwellers that do not have an access road.
“It is not new, there are many rural communities in Enugu State without an access road. Government every year takes a huge amount of money in the pretense over road construction and in the end, nothing happens”, Onaji said.
Mrs. Jacinta Kenneth, who spoke to MAWA via a telephone conversation from Enugu, accused the state government of misappropriating monies meant for development while leaving the citizens to suffer a huge infrastructural deficit.
“We in Enugu do not understand how and where the government spends money budgeted yearly for roads construction, visit many communities in the state and you will be amazed over the infrastructural deficit you will see”, Kenneth told MAWA.
MAWA Foundation could not immediately reach out to the Enugu State Government for an official response.