Abia Government has expressed worry over the high rate of vandalism of public utilities in the commercial city of Aba.
The Commissioner for Works, Mr Bob Ogu made the observation in Aba on Monday while speaking with newsmen.
Ogu lamented the poor orientation some Nigerians have which made them to see public facilities as “government or other people’s property”.
“If you know Aba well, when we did Ibadan Street, there were manholes. It was very impassable until the government fixed it.
“Incidentally, if you leave them open, it will be a problem for both vehicular and human traffic.
“So we had to put good covers on them and because people had removed the ones on them earlier, we had to go to Ibadan Street again to bring very good covers with locks to make it difficult to remove.
“Unfortunately, three days after we put the covers with locks, two of them were removed and in the process of removing them, those parts of the road were damaged,” he said.
The commissioner appealed to residents of the state to assist government in protecting public utilities as they were owners of such facilities.
Ogu also called on landlords and tenants in Aba to collaborate and stop vandals destroying public facilities and roads in their areas.
He regretted that even when Abia government set up a task force to checkmate such activities, there was a backlash as the members began to act like “an army of occupation” extorting the people.
The commissioner said that work was going on at the Port Harcourt Road in Aba with earthwork completed end to end on some parts.
He also promised that the government would complete the construction work on that road before Okezie Ikpeazu’s tenure expired in May 2023.
Ogu said the state government was constructing open drains which might not be very much in vogue now because a recent research showed that Aba residents were not ready for covered drains.
He said that the residents would be ready for covered drains when they stopped filling drains with refuse and making it hard for storm water to pass through them. (NAN)
