By Lucy Osuizigbo
Awka – The Anambra State House of Assembly has urged Gov. Willie Obiano to construct flyovers at strategic points on the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway to check incessant accidents and loss of lives.
The request was contained in a resolution of the house on Thursday, following a Matter of Urgent Public Importance raised by Dr Nnamdi Okafor (Awka South I) during the plenary session in Awka.
Okafor, who is also the Majority Leader of the House, said that the expressway usually had a high volume of traffic with high accident rate.
According to him, the danger the absence of flyover poses is better imagined than experienced.
“It is expected that the flyovers, especially at Regina Junction on the expressway, will certainly stop incessant motor accidents and preventable deaths.
The expressway is one of the major federal roads in the state. It is grouped under the Trunk A roads. It is an important road that links Enugu with Onitsha.
“Due to the absence of foot bridges, multiple accidents keep resulting almost on a daily basis as pedestrians try to cross from one side of the road to the other,’’ Okafor said.
Contributing, Mr Ebere Ejiofor (Anaocha 1), said the rate of accidents on the expressway could have been higher but for the intervention of the Federal Road Safety Corps and other traffic agencies in the state.
“Some motorists drive recklessly that they hardly have the patience to allow pedestrians to cross.
“Many school children, traders going to market and workers have been killed, while trying to cross the express road,’’ Ejiofor said.
The speaker of the House, Mr Uche Okafor, said many accidents had repeatedly occurred at Regina Junction and other spots on the expressway.
Okafor appealed to the government to urgently take steps to build flyovers in some strategic places, especially in the state capital.
