CALABAR– There’s a thin line between hope and hype and in Cross River State, we’ve crossed it too many times.
The latest installment of this unfortunate saga is the awarding of major road contracts to companies that have no business handling critical infrastructure. Zenith on the Adiabo-Ikoneto Road, and Mazem on the Parliamentary Bypass Rehabilitation? It’s beginning to feel less like development and more like an expensive joke.
Let’s rewind. During Governor Liyel Imoke’s administration, citizens raised legitimate concerns when Sermatech was contracted to construct the Parliamentary Extension Road leading to the bye-pass. That road today is a cautionary tale riddled with potholes, poorly executed, and almost impassable in sections.
The public outcry back then was ignored. Now, years later, the state is spending even more to rehabilitate the same failed project.
And guess who’s handling the fix? A relatively unknown Aba-based company: Mazem Limited. Does this company have a portfolio of successful road projects? Are there any credentials, reviews, or proven expertise that justify its selection for such a critical job? Silence.
Meanwhile, Zenith Construction has been handed the Adiabo-Ikoneto Road a swampy, river-adjacent terrain that requires advanced civil engineering and experience with difficult topography. These aren’t roads you award to contractors because of political favors or discounted rates. These are roads that determine safety, connectivity, economic access, and regional development.
When you consider the harsh terrain of the Adiabo-Ikoneto axis, the choice of contractor becomes even more critical. This isn’t your regular dryland stretch it’s water-logged, flood-prone, and environmentally fragile.
Without proper studies, bridges, and long-term structural planning, anything built here will collapse under nature’s pressure. And yet, the job goes to a firm with questionable qualifications.
Where are the heavyweights? Where are the Julius Bergers, CCECCs, and Setracos companies with the manpower, machinery, and engineering brains to transform roads in tough terrains? Why are they continually sidelined in favor of small, underqualified firms?
This attitude of “managing what we have” is hurting our development. We are building roads like we’re running a backyard business lowest bidder wins, quality is secondary, and political connections matter more than capacity. It’s not just inefficient; it’s dangerous.
We’ve lowered the bar so much that the people now cheer for mediocrity. Social media is flooded with photos of inspections, smiling officials, and excited praise-singers. But ask anyone who understands infrastructure, and they’ll tell you: we’re headed down a familiar path of failure.
To Governor Bassey Otu, this is not an attack. In fact, you’ve shown commendable political will in revisiting long-abandoned projects. That deserves credit. But what matters now is how these projects are executed and who is executing them.
Cross Riverians are watching, not with malice, but with concern. Because we’ve seen what happens when substandard contractors are given first-class projects: wasted funds, delayed timelines, crumbling roads, and broken promises.
We don’t need another lesson. We’ve learned enough from the Parliamentary Extension disaster.
It’s time to build wisely.
