Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State has taken the bull by the horn in Obigbo, Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state. His promise in the media since March to take over the construction of the Old Road, Oyigbo, from the Niger Delta Development Commission, is now taking effect. Amaechi made this statement of re-constructing the road, during his campaign rally in the area. Albeit, the people of the area have suffered a lot during the rainy season.
The re-construction of the road is coming with a full swing after we released our brief on the nature of the roads in Oyigbo a fortnight, titled “The True State Of Rivers Roads”. In that article, we said that Oyigbo has seen the bad and the ugly side of this government. This place is an eyesore and mindsore. It is like a town that is left to the ruins of wars. Whether the government has good plans for the town in the future is left for Amaechi; what is today seen in Oyigbo is a dilapidated town. The roads are hellish. Over three months, there have been road constructing equipments on the major road of Oyigbo – the Old Road – that have refused to have a human-face. What are seen on this road are demolitions by the machines, without repairs. The people of this area are wearing nose-cover now to prevent the (much) dust from entering their nostrils. Oyigbo is a pity sight. We wonder what could be the fate of the people living in this area when next the rains come if, at least, the Shell Location and Old Express roads are not put in place.
With what we are seeing on ground in Obigbo after we checked the government in that article, we are bent to believe that Amaechi must have been wondering why Oyigbo, “which is one of the oil producing areas in the State, was denied the benefits of oil revenue.”
During his campaign in the area, Amaechi cried about the state of the road, and he said: “one thing that touched me this morning when we were coming, was the nature of your road. I called the Commissioner of Works and have asked him to send a company to measure the road so we can fix it. I just heard that it is an NDDC contract. No more excuses, I will call the NDDC MD to hands off so we will do our road. This is not politics win or lose we will do the road.”
Even though whoever that was involved in doing work on this road may have played politics with the road before, we are believing that Amaechi is on the ground to give Oyigbo the “basic road”.
But this is one out of the many roads in the area that need to be rehabilitated. All the roads in the area are bad. They are presently in a serious state of disrepair. They are not motorable. The rains have gone. Oyigbo residents have been brought undue hardship and pains upon. Bad roads in the area have paralyzed economic activities.
This is one time the government has to enforce the Oyigbo council to work and message all the companies operating in the area in strong terms to assist in the rehabilitation of the roads.
We are happy today that Amaechi have compelled the contractors handling the ongoing road project in Oyigbo to return to site immediately, after our media briefs on the state of the roads in Rivers State. He has proved that we don’t need the entire people of Oyigbo, to embark on protests, to press home their demands, before the roads could be attended to.
The Shell Location road, Oyigbo, is another area Amaechi should compel whoever it is his or her duty to mount work on. Let the contractors not poorly light machines. The nature of the work should be excellent. The roads should withtand even the first rains. We urge the Rivers State Government stop any construction that is not of standard rate. Amaechi must help. We don’t need any further economic sabotage in Rivers state. With this, we are happy that the “one major” entrance to Oyigbo will be wearing a new look after the re-construction must have been completed. But if this ongoing work we are happy with in Obigbo, we will not fail, to get back to you.
