The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria has raised the alarm over the deteriorating state of the Eleme section of the East-West road in Rivers State, saying the situation was forcing companies to pull out of the area.
Port Harcourt Zonal Chairman of PENGASSAN, Peter Onita, stated this while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Onita said the road, leading to major infrastructure of the Federal Government, including the Port Harcourt Refining Company and the Nigeria Ports Authority, was now a death trap to its workers and other Nigerians plying it daily.
He said it was disheartening that one year after the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, claimed to have commenced the rehabilitation of the section of the road, it was currently in its worse state without any intervention.
Onita said, “It is precisely one year now since youths of Ogoni went on a protest on the Eleme axis of that road. Recall that before that protest, PENGASSAN as a zone had issued statements on the need for the Federal Government to complete that project.
“It is worrisome that one year after, when Senator Godswill Akpabio, then Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs gave assurances that that job will progress, the condition of the road is worse.
“The danger in that road is better imagined, and we are concerned that the promise made had not been fulfilled. We want to use this medium to call on the government to, as a matter of necessity, commence the construction of the road as they promised.”
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