The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has described the dilapidation of the East-West Road worsened by the flooding in Bayelsa State as unbelievable.
Sylva, who spoke when he visited some flooded communities in the state and the Okogbe-Ihuike-Ahoada section of the road damaged by the disaster, said the Federal Government would ensure that rehabilitation works on the flood-ravaged portions of the road was completed early.
The minister, who was accompanied by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Simbi Wabote, and some top officials of the agency on the visit where relief materials were donated to some internally displaced persons in the state, added that the government had already directed the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to carry out repair works on the road.
According to him, the problem of frequent flooding across the country required collective effort to resolve, stressing that all stakeholders should jettison political differences to jointly find a lasting solution to the yearly menace.
Sylva said, “This (damage) is unbelievable. The devastation (of the East-West Road) is unbelievable. But of course, as you know, we stand with the people. I have come all the way from Abuja with a message from the Federal Executive Council that we have given a directive to the NDDC and the Niger Delta Ministry to ensure that the repairs on this (East-West) road are completed expeditiously.
“But this, of course, is beyond what we are talking about, beyond alleviation, on a yearly basis because this (flood) happens every year. As we stand here (on the East-West Road), we know that the water is receding but the water will come back in a matter of a few months next year. We must look for some kind of solution to this problem which has bedeviled us year on year.
“It’s not a natural disaster as such, it’s something that we expect every year; we know the date it happens to us. Of course, there is a difference between years, so sometimes, the problem is more. But the problem occurs every year, so we have to come together as a people. We have to leave our political differences aside.”
Receiving the donated items, the Oxbow Lake IDP camp commandant and Chief Whip of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, thanked the minister and the NCDMB for the donation and promised that the materials would be judiciously used for the welfare of IDPs.
The Federal Executive Council had at its meeting on Wednesday presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, approved the variation by N260 billion in the sum of the contract for the East-West Road project sections one to four from Warri to Port Harcourt and other neigbouring areas.
The figure has brought the total amount required for it to N506bn as the original cost for the sections was about N246bn. The FEC also approved another N140bn worth of contracts for the rehabilitation, construction, and reconstruction of some other roads in different parts of the country.
