The New Iman Is Making Transportation a Luxury

 The New Iman Is Making Transportation a Luxury

By Ikoments

In Chairman Uko Umoh's Etinan, movement has become a luxury rather than a convenience.

If you live anywhere past the park heading toward the Circle, you now pay ₦300–₦500 just to reach what people are calling the "alleged ₦1.5 billion park," and as much as ₦600 to get to Ikot Akpabio — the chairman's own community. A trip from Hospital Road or the School of Health Tech bus stop used to cost no more than ₦500 to Ikot Akpabio and ₦700 to Ekom Iman. Today, that same Ekom Iman trip costs ₦1,200.

Let this be clear: this is a call-out of the local government administration, not an appeal to it. I am only trying to say it as respectfully as the situation allows.

What Was the Park For?

Why is this administration deliberately making life harder for the very people it exists to serve? What was the point of building that park in the first place? Why does it seem that once these men get the opportunity to sit in a seat of power, they start acting like gods?

What thought process went into banning transporters — keke and bus drivers alike — from picking up passengers along the roadside? Even in more advanced countries, taxis pick up passengers on the roadside, and designated bus stops exist for larger transit buses. So where exactly did this administration get the idea that every transporter must load exclusively from the modern park?

And if central loading was truly the goal, the park should have been sited closer to Etinan Circle — the actual central, easily accessible location. The administration clearly knew that would be the harder path politically, and avoided it anyway.

Who Was Actually Considered?

Did anyone consider the students and staff of Health Tech, and the staff and nurses of Etinan General Hospital — people who need to move themselves and their goods to and from the market, in an axis that used to have its own bus stop and no longer does?

Did anyone consider the non-boarding students of Etinan Institute living along the Uyo–Etinan road, or the staff who commute the same route?

Did anyone model how this policy affects commerce across the local government? Movement of people, goods, and services within Etinan has become more expensive, and many residents simply cannot or will not pay the new rates. Even people living just a short distance past the park, heading toward Ekom Iman, are not spared — they either walk back to the park or risk standing on the road indefinitely, because buses and kekes passing by are already full, having filled up at the park before departing.

Here is the absurdity in practice: a bus coming from Ekom Iman toward Etinan Circle or General Hospital drops its last passenger — and instead of picking up new passengers at General Hospital, School of Health Tech, or the Circle on the way, or picking them up along the return route to Ekom Iman, the driver must go all the way back to the park, queue, and wait to fill up again before making another trip.

Trust the reporting on this: a commuter can stand on the road in Etinan for 30 minutes to an hour waiting for a vehicle — especially now, in this season when the skies are leaking rain. This is not right. No justification offered for this policy holds up.

A Reminder for Public Servants

Public servants need to understand that they cannot simply wake up one morning and legislate based on mood, without considering how those decisions land on the people they serve. Being chairman of a local government is not the same as being chairman of your own company, to run however you please — because it is not. Whatever you do affects us, and at the end of the day, you still collect your salary, funded by the public funds of the people you are supposed to be serving — us. Normally, we would simply vote you out. But note: I said normally.

One has to wonder if this is the "New Iman" the administration's slogan keeps promising — because if it is, the old Iman was better. As far as I'm concerned, that park is nothing more than aesthetics: a way to say "at least I did something," unlike chairmen before him. Meanwhile, the people gain nothing from it except a more expensive, more difficult daily commute.

Three Years, One Park

This park is the only tangible thing this administration has to show for three years in office, despite billions in budget allocations and hundreds of millions in monthly FAAC allocations and derivations.

Is this really the new Iman being offered?

I challenge the chairman's media team to publish current pictures of the 7km of roads reportedly graded in those communities. Taxpayers' money has been spent, wasted, and flushed down the drain, and hardly anyone is talking about it — because too many of our people remain unaware of what's happening with public funds. That is sad.

If this were a private company, and a manager kept spending billions on failed projects or projects that brought no real benefit to the people, would the owners keep that manager on — or would they act? That money could have funded solar power for the general hospital, strengthened security enough to bring banks and commercial investment back into our economy, or built housing units in Etinan. If asked how much was spent grading those roads, the figure would run into billions. As for the park, there is a persistent ₦1.5 billion figure circulating — and I am working to confirm that against an official source.

What Etinan People Have a Right to Ask

I am a citizen of this local government area. That status alone gives me — gives all of us — the right to ask basic questions about a project built with public money, in our name, for our supposed benefit. These are not hostile questions. They are the minimum due diligence any administration should be able to answer without flinching:

What was the total cost of the modern park's construction, and can the administration publish the approved budget alongside the actual amount spent?

Was a Bill of Quantities prepared before construction began, and can it be made public?

Was a feasibility study conducted before the project was approved — one that modeled traffic patterns, commuter demand, and the economic impact of forcing all loading through a single, non-central location?

The administration has publicly projected the park will generate ₦10 million annually in revenue, according to its own one-year anniversary briefing. If that figure is accurate, what exactly are the revenue streams — shop rents, loading fees, warehouse leases — and what is the breakdown? And set against a rumored ₦1.5 billion construction cost, does the administration consider a decade-plus payback period a responsible use of public funds, when weighed against the roads, healthcare, and security needs this LGA still has unmet?

If the real construction figure turns out to be lower than the ₦1.5 billion rumor, why has the administration allowed that number to circulate unchallenged for this long, rather than simply publishing the actual cost?

None of these questions should be controversial. They are the kind any council with nothing to hide would welcome, because answering them builds trust rather than erodes it. An administration that governs by allocation without accounting for outcome does not get to call that governance — it gets called what it is.

— Ikoments will continue tracking this story and will publish the official figures on the park's cost, revenue model, and procurement proces

s as soon as they are verified.