October 11, (THEWILL) – Elder Statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, has lamented the deplorable condition of Federal roads in the Niger Delta.
In an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, he blamed the dilapidated state of the roads for the recent incident in which twenty persons lost their lives and several vehicles and other properties were burnt at Koko Junction on the Warri-Benin highway in Delta State.
Clark lamented that although the Niger Delta region produced the bulk of the wealth of the nation, the people of the region have been left to wallow in total neglect, marginalisation and deprivation.
“First I wish to congratulate you on your successful outing at the United Nations General Assembly where your inaugural address was well applauded by Nigerians as well as the foreign audience.
“Unfortunately, your return to Nigeria from that meeting at the world body and all your other activities while at the USA which had been well reported and we hope will help revamp the national economy which had come to be greeted with the unfortunate state of affairs in our part of the country that is the South-South region.
“This is because, as raised on the floor of the House of Representatives on 5th October 2023 by the member representing Warri Federal Constituency, Hon. Thomas Ereyitomi and other members of the house from the South-South on Sunday, 1st October, 2023, at least 20 lives of our fellow citizens were lost and vehicles and other properties were burnt down at Koko Junction on the Warri-Benin highway.
“This was due to the dilapidated state of the road and this speaks volumes of the calamity which the people of the South-South region continue to face daily due to the most inhuman situation of the federal roads in the region.
“Although this region singularly produces the bulk of the wealth of this country and we see the impact of the natural resource that is daily taken out of our soil here in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and almost every other part of the country, we are left to wallow in this total neglect, marginalisation and deprivation. This recent accident at the Koko junction could have been averted if particularly in the past 8 years of President Muhammadu Buhari government, efforts had been made to look into the state of our roads. Indeed, I will like to re-produce one of my farewell messages to President Muhammadu Buhari on 28th of May, 2023 in order to avoid repetition in this matter. I stated in my paragraph 16 as follows:
“The state of roads and other critical infrastructure in the Niger Delta region equally leaves a sour taste in our mouths. The East-West Road remains an ugly stain on Nigeria political administrative logic, especially for something considered as signature project, because of its economic significance. No substantial inch of construction work has been added in the eight years of the Buhari Administration. Sections of the road supposedly constructed were washed away like whitewash on walls by the 2022 floods, obviously due to the poor standard of work done”.
“As you would expect, that road is right now, especially at the time of this 2023 rainy season,in total disrepair and a death trap where there is daily carnage. The connection between Calabar and Itu, i.e. in the section between Cross River and Akwa Ibom remains one of the most dangerous roads in the world, even though the NNPC Ltd is supposed to have taken it over. Coming further down, under your government, you have gratefully awarded the section around the Refinery by Eleme Junction. For this, we are grateful.
“However, the connection between Rivers State and Bayelsa State has four major sections which collapsed due to the 2022 floods and has remained unrepaired; such that a normal journey that would have taken one and half hours between the two states now take three hours and more. If you continue to the axis between Patani and Warri, there are at least four major spots again where the road has totally collapsed and can no longer be passed; with commuters having to go through bush paths in order to continue their journey. Between Warri and Sapele, there are so many bad spots, also washed away by floods and this continues from Sapele to Benin which led to the mammoth death in numbers at Koko junction. It will be remembered that for sometime now for three consecutive months, women and youths have been demonstrating on the road, blocking passer-by, urging the Federal Government to rehabilitate the road. The road from Benin to Asaba is equally in terrible state beyond descr.
“This recent incident at the Koko Junction could have been averted if particularly, in the past eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, efforts had been made to look into the state of our roads.
“The East-West Road remains an ugly stain on Nigeria’s political and administrative logic, especially for something considered a signature project because of its economic significance.
“No substantial inch of construction work has been added in the eight years of the Buhari administration. Sections of the road supposedly constructed were washed away like whitewash on walls by the 2022 floods obviously due to poor standard of work done.
“As you would expect, that road is right now, especially at the time of this 2023 rainy season, in total disrepair and a death trap where there is daily carnage”, he said.
Clark recalled the multiple road contracts awarded by the last administration and the series of promises made by Babatunde Fashola, the immediate-past Minister of Works and Housing that the contracts would be completed before the end of their tenure.
Chief Clark expressed dismay that even in the award of these multi-billion dollar road contracts, the South-South region was shortchanged.
He recalled that from the information made available, in terms of kilometres (length of the roads), the South-South had the least with only 52.2 kilometres while the North Central had 1,479.9 km; North West had 122 kilometres and the South West had 119 kilometres.
Clark charged the Federal Government to take urgent steps to fix the roads in the South-South region as the people cannot be the goose that lays the golden while they bear the brunt of stark deprivation and environmental degradation.
He cautioned that whereas the people of the Niger Delta have maintained relative peace in spite of the untold hardship they go through daily, their silence may not be sustained forever.
