Residents Threaten Protest as Construction Site Collapses, Kills Construction Worker in A’Ibom

Okon Bassey in Uyo

A construction worker has been killed in Akwa Ibom State following the collapsed of underground drainage system reportedly undertaken by local contractor, Benest Engineering Limited.

The death of the construction worker at the weekend identified as Marvelous, who was buried under the drainage system under construction, is rising tension in the area.

Angry residents of Urua Ekpa community in Itu Local Government Area of the state where the sad incident occurred have started mobilisation for a mass protest.

It was gathered human error caused the accident, coupled with poor rescue operation, as the community youths were said to have deployed manual efforts with shovels, as the company could not immediately bring an excavator.

A resident of the area, Mfon Udo, who said he personally assisted in the rescue

operation, lamented that “the victim could have been rescued alive, but for lack of earth-moving equipment like excavator, which forced us to join in digging the spot for over four hours to get to his remains, heavily pressed down in the rubbles.”

He explained that “the structure collapsed under the weight and vibration of a motorised equipment that was packing and ferrying the chipping stones closer to the underground, where the victim, a mason man, was trapped, while trying to pour concrete mixture in the construction of the underground water tunnel.”

Udo expressed worry that “a job of this magnitude could be awarded to a local contractor as a political compensation to

the firm owned by Elder Benji Udobia, the political leader of Esit Eket Local Government Area,” and urged the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel, to cancel the contract and re-award it to major company with excellent safety standards like the Julius Berger.

“We have been completely cut-off from Uyo, the state capital, because of perennial floods that submerged houses, and people losing their lives every rainy season. So, when we saw contractors being mobiliSed to the site, we commended the governor for this rescue mission, but it turned out to be a big disaster to the people,”, Effiong Bassey, a youths’ activist from the Itu LGA, lamented.

Following the development and threat, the contractor has reportedly abandoned the job.

“Since the accident happened, the contractor has disappeared with the equipment from the site, and from the look of things, the job has been abandoned because the administration is already getting closer to its end of tenure in 2023,” Emmanuel Akpan, a resident said.