Hon. Efe Afe Hasan, the representative for the Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie federal constituency in the House of Representatives, has urged the Federal Government and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to act quickly to reconstruct the East-West road that connects all of the oil-producing South-South states.
The East-West road’s Warri-Sapele-Benin expressway is currently in a horrible condition, and the federal member expressed particular concern about it. He claimed that this called for a reconstruction to permanently improve vehicle traffic.
At the opening of the Akporjevughe and Oghene roads, which have a combined length of four and 2.5 kilometers, respectively, and were built by the NDDC within Sapele municipality in the Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, Hassan made the submissions.
While praising NDDC for the projects intended to deflood the affected areas, Hassan pointed out that there are still roughly four motions pending before the House of Representatives, pleading with the Federal Government and NDDC to assist the people traveling the routes.
We need to move oil because Delta, Edo, and other nearby states produce oil, especially because the pipelines are currently having intermittent leaks.
“Transporting the oil by road is the only other option. Aside from the risk of accidents and kidnapping, transporting oil and gas products from Warri or Edo to other regions of the nation will become more expensive if the roads are not well maintained.
“I want to take this chance to reiterate our call from the House of Representatives that President Muhammadu Buhari urgently help our people by rebuilding the Warri-Sapele-Benin road and the Eku-Agbor route.
“These are federal roads that require urgent rehabilitation. We would all be pleased if these roads were in decent shape.
“I also ask the NDDC to expedite palliative repairs to the East-West route that was blocked off by flooding. He begged them to swiftly address the problematic road.
Before the contract for the construction of the 6.5 kilometers of Sapele feeder roads was awarded, the NDDC Director for Delta State, Steve Ogheneare, who spoke on behalf of the acting Managing Director of the Commission, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, noted that “the entire communities in the locality were swampy and in unbelievably bad condition, prone to perennial flooding and therefore not passable throughout the year.”
With the projects finished, the situation has improved for locals and commuters, who can now travel the roads with ease and reach their destinations in substantially less time. As individuals use these roadways, there are significant time and financial savings.
Nathaniel Udonsuk, a member of the landowners’ organization of the Sapele-Okpe host villages, responded by thanking the NDDC management for the gesture.
In order to stop banditry in the corridors, especially at night, he pleaded with the interventionist agency to bolster the newly built highways with street lights.
