East West Road: It’s My People That Are Suffering – Fubara
By Elem Kash
Governor Siminalayi Fubara explaining to members of Senate Ad-hoc Committee the deplorable state of the road at Akpajo Junction.
“We have always complained about the dilapidated state of the East-West Road”, Governor Siminalayi Fubara told visiting Senators at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
The East West Road which connects most coastal states in the South South, including Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States to other parts of the country, is largely dilapidated and uncompleted.
Apparently, members of the Senate Adhoc Committee who were on ground in the State to see things for themselves had stopped over at Government House to exchange views with the Rivers Governor.
Fubara who received the Senators lamented the situation at the “Eleme junction to Onne route”, saying that despite the concern expressed severally by the State over the deplorable condition nothing has happened.
“It is a federal road, but it is my people that are suffering”, the Governor pained by the situation remarked, “So, I want to appeal to you” to move “far from much talking to making actual commitment.”
Governor Fubara urged the Senate Adhoc Committee on the East-West Road and the Eleme-Ogoni corridor of the road to ensure that reconstruction work on the road starts quickly.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara in a warm handshake with Sen. Abdul Ningi Ahmed, chairman, Adhoc Committee on East West Road and Eleme-Ogoni Corridor during a visit to Government House, Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
He acknowledged the intractable sufferings experienced by users of the East-West Road and called for an end to the distressing and abhorable situation.
He drew attention to years of deductions made from the FAAC account by the federal government for the funding of critical national projects.
And wondered why the East-West Road was never captured and funded especially when it leads to locations where essential national economic assets such as the Port Harcourt Refinery, the Onne Port and the country’s Petrochemical plant are operational.
Fubara noted that the most deplorable sections of the road were not more than 20 – kilometre long from the Eleme Junction Interchange that takes traffic into the Ogoni areas and beyond.
The Governor who is building a ring road that will provide better access in and out of Port Harcourt city reckoned that, the stretch of the East-West Road in question cannot be too expensive for the federal government to handle.
Sir Fubara enjoined members of the committee not to confine themselves to the assessment of the state of the East West Road, conducting public hearing and the submission of their reports.
But he urged them to push further to ensure that actual work on the reconstruction and completion of the road commences.
Speaking of his expectations, the governor enjoined members of the committee not to confine themselves to the assessment of the state of the East West Road, conducting public hearing and the submission of their reports.
“It should not”, Fubara stressed, end in just embarking on a “public hearing, or a question of how much was paid and not paid.”
“You should move far from much talking to making actual commitment” on what should happen in terms of project implementation, the Rivers Governor added.
Chairman of the Senate Adhoc Committee on East-West Road and Eleme-Ogoni Corridor, Senator Abdul Ningi Ahmed informed the governor that their visit was predicated on a motion adopted by Senate concerning the East-West Road.
He disclosed that they were physically assessing the current condition of the road and assured that there would be a public hearing which hopefully will assist in kick-starting the standard reconstruction of the road.
Gov. Fubara (4th left), Prof. Odu, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, Sen. Mpigi, Sen. Izunaso, Sen. Abdul Ningi, and other Senators during a visit to Government House, Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
The governor later took the Ad-hoc Committee on a visit to the failed portions of the Eleme section of the road.
Earlier, Senator Barinada Mpigi who confirmed the visit of the Adhoc Committee of which he is a member in a phone chat with the Port Harcourt Telegraph expressed optimism that the Senate would do everything within its power to encourage the Federal Government to do something about the East West Road.