The Governor of Bayelsa state, Douye Diri stated that the East-West Road should be renamed the South-South Road because it links all the six states in the South-South region.
The Governor disclosed this on Friday urging the FG to rename the Road to reflect its proper geo-political status.
He stated this during a meeting with the Minister of Niger Delta, Mr. Abubakar Momoh, and the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Sam Ogbuku, in Government House, Yenagoa.
Nomenclature
Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa noted that the East-West road had been in a deplorable condition for years, citing that the nomenclature of the road sees passengers move through all states in the South-South region, he said:
- “I believe that is a wrong nomenclature. That nomenclature should actually be the South-South Road because it links all the six states in the South-South region.
- “That nomenclature might have come in those days when Bayelsa was part of Rivers and they were part of the Eastern region, and when Delta and Edo states were part of the Mid-West region.
- “Today, the story is different and I appeal that the Federal Government should change the nomenclature from East-West to South-South Road. That road is central to all the six states as it traverses all of them.
State of the road
He also noted that at the moment, the road is nothing to write home about, citing it is as one of the reasons people of this region feel that we are being shortchanged even with all that we produce, adding:
- “With all that we bring to the federal kitty, what actually comes to us is more like peanuts. And often, when the peanuts come, there are some out there opposing it.
- “We actually believe that in a federal system of government, regions and states should be allowed to exploit what is in their region and states and pay taxes to the federal government as that is the standard across the world.”
Inclusion
The Governor called for more inclusion in the Ministry citing the impact of the Niger Delta Ministry on the region, adding that its budget preparation and policy implementation should be made to address the challenges confronting the Niger Delta people.
- “I like to bring to your knowledge that the Ministry of Niger Delta is too far from the people of the region. Far, not in terms of location, but the people of the Niger Delta want to feel and own that ministry as their own.
- “The current situation is that the people are alienated from that ministry in terms of budget preparation, in terms of policies and their implementation. The people are asking for inclusiveness.
- “We believe that your coming will bridge this gap between the people of the region and the ministry.”.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Momoh, noted that he is seeking collaboration with the state government on issues of development of the region, which included the completion of the East-West road.
East-West road funding
Recall Nairametrics reported last year the FG announced plans to fix roads destroyed by flooding incidents across the country and approved N506 billion to complete sections 1-4 of the East-West Road.
The approval was acknowledged through the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
Total contract sum increased: The total contract sum for the remaining sections 1-4 of the road was increased from an initial sum of N246 billion to N506 billion. This is due to some repair work that needs to be carried out, in addition to completing the remaining sections.
- “He got approval for the variation order in respect of repair works on the East-West Road project affected during the recent flooding occurrences in the Niger Delta. So, the approval was for a variation order for the East-West Road project sections 1-4 from Warri to Port Harcourt, Eket, Oron, including Oron-Eket bypass in the sum of N260 billion, thereby increasing the total contract sum for the outstanding sections 1-4 of the East-West road projects from the sum of formerly of N246 billion now to N506 billion. The memo was approved.’’
