Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, has expressed displeasure over the deplorable state of the Eleme axis of the East-West Road, calling on the Federal Government to urgently complete the road project.
Chairman of PENGASSAN, Port Harcourt Zone, Mr Peter Onita, who expressed the displeasure, wondered why the government was yet to commence work on the road despite several calls by stakeholders in the Niger Delta region.
Onita lamented that the poor state of the Eleme section of the East-West Road has become life threatening to workers and residents of the area who are plying the road daily.
He said: “It has been over a year since the youths of Ogoni and Eleme went on a protest for the completion of the road. Before that protest, PENGASSAN as a stakeholder had issued statements on the need for the Federal Government to complete that road.
“It’s worrisome that one year after, even when then Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, gave assurances that the job will progress on the road, unfortunately, instead of the work to progress, the road has gone worse.
“The dangers in that road can better be imagined. We are concerned that this promise as made by the federal government has not been fulfilled till today.”
The PENGASSAN zonal boss also stated that
many companies were beginning to move out of the area as a result of the poor state of the road.
“We call on he government to, as a matter of necessity, commence the completion of the road as they had promised. Lives and economic manhours are being lost on that road daily. A journey of 10 minutes is now taking 2 hours, which is not ideal for an economy that wants to grow.
“Aside the people from the area that use the road, that road links people from Akwa Ibom and Cross River to Port Harcourt.
“The Eleme section of the East-West Road has a lot of companies on it. The road has the free trade zone which has a lot of companies and servicing companies which are also important and also contribute to the nation’s economy,” he added.
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