ANGLICAN WOMEN IN ANAMBRA TASK SOLUDO ON ROAD SAFETY, REQUEST PEDESTRIAN PATHWAYS, OVERHEAD BRIDGES

(By Alex Uzoigwe)

Apparently piqued by incessant fatal accidents on various federal and state roads in Anambra State, the Anglican women of the Diocese on the Niger, have in a likely “Save our Souls” manner, made an appeal to the Governor, Prof. Charlse Soludo, to consider re-engineering some major roads in the state for higher degree of safety.

Among other things, the women had in their request pleaded with the governor to construct quality pedestrian pathways across the gutters of every road, as well as build feeder roads across the length and breadth of major towns and communities in the state.
The women articulated the appeals in the Presidential Address presented today, Saturday, July 8, 2023, by the wife of the Bishop of the Niger, Dr Nonyelum Elsie Nwokolo, at the ongoing Diocese on the Niger Women Conference at St Michael’s Anglican Church, Umudioka, in the Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The Anglican mothers also persuaded the governor to find possible ways to liaise with the Federal Government to construct an overhead bridge at the Upper Iweka axis of Onitsha which they described as “a place of high flux of human traffic”.

According to the women, their passion for calling for the measures is informed by frequent accidents on some of the roads, especially the Upper Iweka area which they perceived as a black spot.
While emphasising that the road mishaps were mostly avoidable, they explained that if the measures suggested were properly taken, the steps would, to a reasonable extent, not only prevent road accidents and save lives but will also bring sanity to roads in the state.
In their specific appeal for an overhead bridge at the Upper Iweka, they entreated the state and the federal governments to “see the need to build a pedestrian overhead bridge linking the former NITEL office gate and the Eastern Academy Secondary School gate areas.
“A pedestrian bridge at this point”, they added, “will save a lot of lives and properties counting on the volume of traffic of persons that hourly surge within that vicinity”.
Although the women profoundly saluted the stamina and the zeal with which they said the Government of Prof. Soludo was giving Ndị Anambra a new lease of life, they, nevertheless, further pleaded with the governor to direct more efforts towards many erosion sites in the state.

In part, the address read, “Places like the Iyienu Mission Teaching Hospital, Ogidi, the Nkisi River axis in Onitsha, Obosi, Nnewi, Ekwulọbịa, Nanka and many other erosion devastated communities in the state need urgent attention before they are washed away”.
In the same vein, the conference passionately enjoined the governor to build more roads in both urban and rural areas, as well as, maintain existing ones to ease traffic in the state.
Also worried about what they described as hours of traffic jams in some parts of Onitsha, the women remarked, “To solve the regular gridlocks in Onitsha, we have consistently called for a bypass that could link the Awka Road with the “3-3″ area of Nkwelle. We still repeat the call”.
Irrespective of the dicey security situations in the state, the address presentation was witnessed by more than 18,000 Anglican and non-Anglican faithful.
Among many of the dignitaries who thronged the venue from across the state and beyond were government officials, industrialists, academics, politicians and religious ministers.
The theme of the four-day conference was, “Feed My Lambs”.