Leader of the Ijaw nation, Edwin Clark, has sent an open letter of complaint to President Bola Tinubu about the deplorable state of roads in the Niger Delta region.
Clark, in his letter to President Tinubu on Sunday, appealed for urgent and far-reaching repairs on the roads in the region.
According to him, it is questionable that the Niger Delta and South-South region produces the oil resources which serve as the treasure base of the nation, but the roads in the region are in such deplorable states.
The Ijaw leader noted that the bad roads have caused immense hardship to the people living in the region and, therefore, urged President Tinubu to prioritize the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the region’s road network in the 2025 budget.
He therefore appealed to the President to direct the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi and other relevant government agencies to as a matter of urgency, see to the repair of the roads.
The letter read: “I am writing this passionate appeal to you to declare an EMERGENCY in the coming 2025 Budget and also direct your Minister of Works and its relevant agencies to redouble their efforts to repair these roads. Mr. President, we therefore demand that in 2025, this situation of the Niger Delta, the treasure base of the country should be declared an emergency without further delay.
“Mr. President, I realise that resources are lean and demands are many; it is however very difficult to understand why roads in the communities that produce the resources that keep this country going are in such a terrible state. It is already very sad that the Niger Delta suffering from decades of environmental damage which would take us many generations to recover from.
“So, to imagine that we cannot commute among ourselves and daily our region produces billions to the national coffers is difficult to fathom.”
Clark who went ahead to list some of the bad road networks in the region, argued that the revenue from a week’s oil production is enough to fix the roads.
“At the current production level of 1.8 million barrels per day, which we the leaders of the region working with the government have achieved and are still working to increase, it is difficult to understand why the roads in our region should be in this very deplorable condition. With oil prices now at US$73 per barrel, we reckon that we are producing enough and we in the Niger Delta cannot be in this condition. What is required to fix the roads is not even up to a week’s production of oil.”
“Benin-Auchi Road. Under normal circumstances, this road takes commuters 2½ hours. At present, passengers, on average, spend 7 hours on that road. In some cases, it is so bad that travellers have to go through some rural communities in Ekiti state before coming back to the main road.
“Benin-Uromi-Sapele Road: This road which is at the heart of oil production normally takes commuters 1 hour. At present, its bad condition subjects passengers to 3 to 4 hours for the trip.
“Sapele-Warri Road: the distance between these two communities is barely 43 kilometres but due to its bad condition, passengers now spend 2 hours on a journey that is normally about 30 minutes.
“Port Harcourt-Owerri Road: Similarly, the road from Port Harcourt to Owerri is a mere distance of 95 kilometres which in the past commuters could arrive at their destination after 1½ hours. Sadly, with so many bad spots, this now requires 4 hours.
“Uyo-Itu-Calabar Road: the road connecting Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, and Calabar, the capital of Cross River State is about 90 kilometres. Until recently, we cover that road in less than 2 hours. However, due to the terrible state of the road at present, the minimum commuters spend on the road is 6 hours. Our team described it as the worst road in the country due to its state, more so as it is connecting two important states.
“Calabar-Obudu Road: the distance between Calabar to Obudu the hometown of former Senate President, Dr. Joseph Wayas, and where he was recently laid to rest is about 316 kilometres. I recall, as a politician, that we used to travel in and out of this road in those days in about 4 hours. With the current situation, those who traverse this road spend between 7 to 8 hours on the road.
“The East-West Road: the East-West road which connects the entire region was deliberately conceived and commenced during the time of Obasanjo as a deliberate intervention to assuage the neglect of the oil-producing communities.”
Clark, who lamented that previous governments have paid lip service to the issue of road repair in the region, acknowledged the efforts of the current administration but called for greater commitments in fixing the bad roads in the Niger Delta.
“Unfortunately succeeding administrations have paid lip service to completing this road. We note that some efforts are being made to repair sections of the road but there is not much work going and the pace of work is slow. It is also noted that some of the contractors do not seem to have the competence to handle the nature of work in a complex water-logged terrain like the Niger Delta,” he concluded.
