The Minister of Niger Delta Development, Abubakar Momoh; the Edo State Commissioner for Roads and Bridges, Engr. Ethan Uzamere and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, at the weekend inspected ongoing construction of the Benin-Abraka Road.
Impressed with the level of work done on the road, the delegation reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the development of critical infrastructure to boost economic growth and development.
Momoh said, “The Benin-Abraka Road is one of the roads under the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). This road was awarded in 2009 and about 15km out of the 88km has been constructed by the Ministry of Niger Delta Development.
“Also, I understand that there was an MoU between the State government and NDDC to complete the remaining parts of the road. I have also been told that the State government has awarded 40.5km out of the 88km, which means about 28km is left uncompleted.
“From the work done so far, I am impressed and hope the rest of the road is completed up to Abraka in Delta State so that the people in this area will make use of the road but if it’s not completed up to Abraka the purpose will be defeated.”
He added, “I am happy that the MD of NDDC is here and will take the documents back home to study them and get back to the State government because the project needs to be jointly funded to enable it see the light of the day.”
The Minister, while decrying the poor state of roads across the Country, noted, “Looking at the time lines under this present administration, we should be looking at the next two to three years because we have a lot of roads across the Country and Niger Delta is bad. It’s difficult to access Warri through this route. When coming from Akure today, it was difficult to access Akure through Owan and we had to pass through Ore. That shows that the people from Edo North are completely cut off from Benin City.”
He added, “If the only road we manage through Ondo State is no longer accessible, you know Benin-Auchi road has been cut-off and it shows we are in trouble. We will begin to look at this problem. We have a listening President who will look at this because he is ready to bring development to every part of Nigeria and we believe that by the time we present the report of our findings, these problems will be attended to.”
On his part, Uzamere, while noting the importance of the inspection, stated, “This kind of visit is necessary because, the issue being looked at. The road is for the development of the people. We are here with the Minister and the MD of NDDC to see what is going on so far.”
