The Slow Return of the Enugu-Onitsha Feeder Roads

For the better part of three years, residents along the feeder roads connecting Enugu to Onitsha have described the same stretch of asphalt in the same weary tone: promised, started, stalled, promised again. This year, something has shifted, though not as fully as officials suggest.

Contractors returned to two of the four affected sections in May, according to site visits and interviews with local council officials. Grading equipment has been visible near Awgu since early June, and drainage work — long the missing piece in previous attempts — has finally begun on the worst-affected kilometre near Ndeaboh.

What residents are seeing on the ground

Traders who move goods along this corridor say the difference is noticeable but incomplete. "The graded part is fine," said one transporter who declined to be named because he still deals with contractors on the project. "But past the third bridge, it's exactly as it was two years ago."

Local government figures shared with our correspondent show that roughly 40 percent of the planned resurfacing has been completed, a figure state officials have not publicly confirmed or disputed when asked directly.

"We stopped asking for a completion date. Now we just ask if the drains are done, because that's what actually keeps the road from washing out again."

Funding gaps and what comes next

Budget documents reviewed by our desk show the project was allocated funds across two fiscal years, with a portion of the second tranche still unreleased as of this month. Officials at the state ministry of works, reached by phone, said disbursement was "in process" but did not provide a specific timeline.

What seems clear from the visits and conversations gathered for this piece is that the corridor is no longer stalled outright — but residents are right to withhold celebration until the remaining stretches are actually resurfaced, not just graded.

We'll continue to follow this story and report back once the second phase either begins in earnest or slips again.