Elderstatesman and foremost Niger Delta Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, on Sunday, lamented the deplorable state of major federal roads in the South-South geopolitical zone,and pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on them in the 2025 national Budget.
Clark, who made the appeal in an open letter to Tinubu in Abuja, wrote: “As leader of the people of the South-South, I have no choice than to write to you on this matter of critical importance and pain to me and my people.
“That is to bring to your attention the very bad state of roads and links within the South-South zone, where the revenue of this country come from.”
The former minister of information in the defunct First Republic, said he was particularly shocked by the fact that the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), which returned from an official errand recently, came back with unpleasant reports of the poor state of South-South roads.
He said the high-powered team attended the funerals of late National Chairman (Worldwide) of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Nwanyanwu; former Senate President, Dr. Joseph Wayas and the late wife of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor (Mrs.) Kemi Eno,
Part of the letter read: “The PANDEF, Ambassador Godknows Boladei Igali and members of the National Executive had to travel around by road and brought to us a very worrying state of affairs on the roads.
“A few examples will give you some perspectives on the situation: Benin-Auchi Road. Under normal circumstances, this road takes commuters 2½ hours.
“At present, passengers, on the average, spend seven hours on that road. In some cases, it is so bad that travellers had 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 one hour. At present, its bad condition subject passengers to three to four 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 two 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 four 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 six hours. In fact, 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 use to travel in and out of this road in those days in about four hours. With the current situation, those who traverse this road spend between seven to eight 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 former president Olusegun Obasanjo as a deliberate intervention to assuage the neglect of the oil producing communities.
“Unfortunately, succeeding administrations have paid lip service to completing this road. We note that some efforts is 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 as the Niger Delta.
“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.
“At the current production level of 1.8 million barrels per day, which we the leaders of the region working with government have achieved and are still working to increase this, 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.
“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.”
Sunday Aborisade
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