Omoku-Egbema Road, Shameful, Condemnable, Says Trado Chief

They lamented over the supposed marginalization and neglect of their local government by the state and federal government, wondering why a place that produced oil and gas to “the greatest quantum” would be begging to have good, motorable roads.

Aside the sorry state of the road, the people also expressed dismay following the supposed lack of good drinking water, hospital, education, among others.

According to them, the only school in the local government; a college of education, should have been upgraded to a university, the way others, they said, that came with it were upgraded.

They pleaded that the Omoku-Egbema Road which connects to Imo, Bayelsa and Delta states, was of immense importance to the people of the LGA, states, nation and travelers.

Natives and residents of ONELGA expressed dismay over the terrible condition of the road awarded by the state government for the umpteenth time.

They lambasted the new contractors, Setraco, for what they described as not been professional in the construction of the road.

In an interview with TNN, the chairman of Ogba traditional rulers complained bitterly about the challenges motorists, commuters, residents and business owners are subjected to, as a result of the bad road.

Eze Bright Abali also decried marginalization of the oil producing local government in the area of infrastructural development.

He said, “The road is in a state where the reaction of the people shows the high level of distrust in Setraco. Just like Darycet failed, Setraco coming in, the good people of Ogbaland and road users in ONELGA have not seen any swift change from the old pattern of construction, the way Darycet was doing it, they have not moved from that level to something professional, every day they are digging one point, making movement very, very difficult, so, that is not what we expected.

“As an oil producing area, it is shameful, it is condemnable that a local government that is producing oil and gas to the greatest quantum, to the benefit of the nation will begin to beg to have good road, and the whole multinationals are transiting, moving on this road, crisscrossing all their activities and moving from here and there, we don’t have peace when their heavy duties are passing.

“Considering the kind of heavy duty equipment that use this road, the government should consider that, if there must be a place to do a standard road, it’s to be in ONELGA, a road that will be durable, a road that will last for us, because it is not small vehicle, it is not saloon cars that are plying the road, 80 percent of vehicles that ply this road is even more of trucks, swamp buggy, bulldozers, earth quaking machines, so we need good roads, not all these things that they are doing.

Abali explained that, “we told them that we wanted Julius Berger, but the Rivers State government said they have already awarded the roads for seven billion naira or something like that after Darycet have engulfed about 12 point seven billion without doing the road, so we, we were not looking at the money, all we are saying is that let the government do something ones and for all, something that will last for a long time.

The people are disappointed with what Setraco is doing, as the chairman of Ogba Traditional rulers, what we have seen as a people, I am speaking in that capacity, what we have seen as a people is not encouraging, it’s not impressing at all, we have witnessed some kind of minor accidents by Okada riders and little, little hit and bashing by vehicles, it’s not supposed to be like that, they are not doing the road professionally, what we know as Setraco, the kind of job they constructed from Port Harcourt Road to Imo State, if they are coming with those kind of equipment to this place, you will see that the road will be fine, some people are believing that they are not mobilized, that is why we are  not seeing a good equipment, what they are doing is substandard, just like the same thing Darycet did for many years.”

The Ogba traditional ruler further appealed to the government, “they know the importance of the Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government, we are the people that make Rivers State allocation to be high, we are the people that make Nigeria to have something they save from the oil and gas, the hydro-carbon business, this local government contribute a lot, so what did we do that they cannot give us the best road, what did we do that all amenities here are nothing to write home about? places that do not even know or have feeling or even experience what they call exploration, oil and gas exploration, they are giving them the best of road, we don’t have road, we don’t have good drinking water, we don’t have hospital, we don’t have good education, our school here that is a college of education other schools that came with it have been upgraded to university. I don’t know where we can benefit from government so it is worrisome.

“We are appealing to the government, this road is very important to us, the road lead to Imo State, the road led to Ndoni where you can cross over to Bayelsa and cross over to Delta through the river route, so why will this place not be treated well, we need good road for goodness seek.”