THE Director-General of the BRACED Commission, Ambassador Joe Keshi, on Thursday decried the deplorable state of the Calabar-Itu-Ikot Ekpene highway, adding that such was inimical to the economic growth of the South-south.
The BRACED Commission comprising of the six South-south states of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta, is an initiative to foster the integration, socio-economic and infrastructural development of the region.
Speaking to newsmen in Uyo after a closed-door meeting with Akwa Ibom state Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, Keshi stressed that the poor state of the federal road was blocking the economic cooperation and integration of the BRACED states.
He explained that he was in the state to get the governor’s inputs on the best direction to achieving the mandate of the commission which includes economic cooperation and integration of the region.
“The objective of our effort is to build a very strong regional economy that has a potential to create employment and create wealth for the people of the region. That is why I’m here to discuss with the governor to get his own perspective and his advice on the things that the commission needs to be doing in order to ensure success.
“I have benefitted from his advice on things we need to be doing to ensure that we work as a region to make sure that in a couple of years from now, we utilize the resources at our disposal to build a very strong economy.
“And there is need for the various units of the nation to function optimally. As far as I do foresee, if the states and the regions don’t work, the federation itself will not work.
“That is why we need to begin to build a very strong economy at the local level, the state level and at the regional level and not depend totally on the federal government. If we want this country to work, we must ensure that states and the regions work,” he said.
Keshi, a former Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, while narrating his experience on his Calabar -Uyo bound trip, pointed out that spending two and a half hours in a supposed forty-five minutes journey because of dilapidated road was appalling.
“We’ve discussed it and we are hoping that with some understanding, particularly at the federal level we can find a way to do that road,” he noted.
He lamented the involvement of the Niger Development Commission (NDDC) with mini projects that were within the capacities of local and state governments, while intra-regional projects like the Calabar-Itu road lies waiting for the exclusive attention of the federal Government.
He sued for collaboration between the BRACED Commission and the NDDC on the way forward for the region.
