The people of Abo ward in Boki local government area of Cross River have appealed to Gov. Ben Ayade to come to their aid in the construction of the Abo Ogbagante-Abo-Obisu Mkpang-Bonabe road.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 12 kilometres road has already been graded through communal effort by members of the affected communities.
The facilitator of the community project, Mr Moses Abang, a former Registrar in the University of Calabar, told NAN that the road has been neglected for over 90 years.
Abang said that the affected communities were blessed with both natural and human resources.
According to him, the Mbe Mountains which is a tropical rainforest area is found in the affected communities that surrounds the forest region.
He stressed that the communities were also soliciting financial assistance from well-wishers to enable them complete the N10million estimated project.
“We are calling on government to assist us construct the road, so that our efforts so far in bulldozing and grading won’t be wasted.
“This road has been neglected for over 90 years now. The Mbe Mountain which is a tropical rainforest is located in the communities affected by poor road network.
“The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, described Mbe Mountains as a Biodiverse hot spot with lots of biological diversity in their natural state.
“The Mbe natural forest is a viable habitat that houses endangered animal species such as the Cross River Gorilla, Chimpanzees, Drill Monkeys, Pangolin, Crocodiles, African Elephants and lots more.
“Such natural attraction centre, brings tourists and students of higher learning from all walks of life for studies, pleasure and recreational activities,” he said.
He told NAN that a comprehensive construction of the road would also improve economic activities and promote the movement of agricultural produce from the area.
He said that the area was blessed with agricultural products such as cocoa, oil palm, banana, plantain, cassava, cocoyam, timber, bush Mango and chewing stick.
He further said that the communities were also lack electricity, telecommunication network, good health facilities and good schools.
“We are also calling on the network providers MTN, Glo, Airtel and 9 Mobile to come and mount their masts. We have a population of about three million people yearning for network.”
