The Chairman of Eleme Local Government, Hon. Obarilomate Ollor, has warned that the people of the area would not hesitate to block and occupy the East-West road again if the Federal Government fails to fulfill its promise to commence the reconstruction of the road.
The chairman, who was speaking to newsmen on the state of the road, which was last year blocked from traffic for seven days, said it would be unfortunate if the people were forced again to block the road to force government to work on the road.
“I don’t think it is right for us to always have this position before work would be done on our road, especially a road that leads to where the Federal Government takes most of the revenue for the country,” he queried.
He recalled how President Muhammadu Buhari stepped into the matter last year and approved for the project to be transferred to the Federal Ministry of Works from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs for better and quicker execution of the project.
The Chairman said, “I have made contacts with them (Federal Ministry of Works). I spoke with the Zonal Engineer, in charge of Works in this area and I was to meet with the Minister and the Permanent Secretary. That move is still on. But I can tell you from the conversation I had with the Zonal Engineer that there are certain bureaucracies that are going on right now with the passage of the job from the MNDA to the FMW.
“This process is taking too long in my own view and the view of my people. So that’s why I actually want to go to the Minister and find out what exactly is keeping it so long.”
Ollor said officials of the ministry had however told him that they intend to do a sort of palliative to make the road passable.
Reacting to the N2.5 billion released for the project, Hon. Ollor said the scope that has been covered on the project so far may have taken up the money including compensation to owners of properties on the right of the way of the project.
“Maybe, they want us to do another protest before they release another money. If that is what they want, we are ready. If we allow the youths to occupy the road again, nobody will determine when they will be able to leave the road.
“What we are passing through there is horrible. We cannot even access Eleme easily. Trucks are falling everyday, people are dying. So the government and people of Nigeria should understand the dey of our people as regards this road,” he said.
Last week, a young man, Femi Ikomi, was crushed to death near the trailer Park end of the road when a truck that was avoiding a bad spot ran into him.
Ikomi, who ran a barber’s shop at GVC bus stop, had taken his motorcycle to go get a clipper at Trailer Park and return to the shop when the accident occurred.