Coastal communities in the Niger Delta never had cause to celebrate. WALE AJETUNMOBI reports that the recent inauguration of projects in Olero Creek, one of the coastal communities in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has brought hope of a better future for the people.
A journey to the coastal communities in Olero Creek, Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State through the Benin River is not a mission for the faint-hearted.
Although Mr James Amoina, a prominent community leader in Jakpa, would want visitors to feel at home, the reality is that the eerie feeling that one is going into a security zone still persists. Whether real or imagined, the Koko area is still wrapped in an aura of fear and mystic.
Amoina and other Itsekiri sons like him, feel pained by visitor’s negative perception of their coastal communities.
“We are peaceful and law-abiding like other Nigerians in other parts of the country. All our people are asking for is development. We contribute to the economy of Nigeria, so we expect that basic amenities such as water and schools should be provided for us,” he said.
It was against this background that the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr Nsima Ekere, recently led a powerful NDDC team that included the Executive Director Projects, Mr. Samuel Adjogbe, an Engineer, the Delta State representative on the NDDC Board, Dr Ogaga Ifowodo, and other directors to inaugurate projects in Olero Creek.
Eventually, when the convoy of speed-boats anchored at the Gbokoda Jetty, after a bumpy and scary ride on rough waters, it was a jubilant community that received the visitors.
You could feel the excitement in the air as people from various communities turned out to witness the inauguration of seven rigid pavement roads, covering almost eight kilometres, built by the NDDC. The roads, divided into sections, were Tebu-Gbokoda Road, Tebu Gbokoda-Udo Road and the Udo-Ajamita Road.
Responding to the welcome address of the people of the ancient Itsekiri community, the NDDC Chief Executive Officer said he was touched by the emotions expressed by their leaders. He remarked: “I share in your joy. When you spoke, I felt your positive emotions.“
Ekere noted that developing communities that could not be accessed by road posed enormous challenges, especially with funding and logistics.
He observed: “ The terrain is so difficult. A very serious engineering work has been done here because of the difficult terrain. That is why we feel sad when people don’t factor in the difficult challenges of terrain while talking about the cost of construction in the Niger Delta region.”
The Commission was already devoting 70 per cent of its budget to the completion of ongoing projects. To this end, the NDDC boss recently told the Commission’s design and supervising consultants that only 30 per cent of the budget would go into new projects.
He declared: “We have reduced the number of new projects in our budgets to enable us to complete on-going ones. We have tried to prioritize them to enable us deliver on the more critical ones.”
A representative of the Olero Creek Community, Mr Eyde Michael, said they were excited by what the NDDC had done for them.
“We have not seen much from the oil companies. That is why we remain very grateful to the NDDC,” he said.
Eyde appealed to the NDDC to complete other ongoing projects in the area, especially the Koko-Oghoye-Escravos Road.
The 21.4-kilometre road, with four bridges, would connect various riverside communities that were hitherto inaccessible by road in the oil-bearing communities in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.
A former NDDC Managing Director, Bassey Dan-Abia, who inspected the road in 2014, observed that the project was very strategic as it would eventually link up with the Koko-Oghoye Road.
He said: “This Ilaje area is a typical Niger Delta terrain and I wish other Nigerians will appreciate the peculiar problems we encounter in the region. However, we look forward to driving on this road to Ayetoro in no distant time.”
“Living in the creeks is nothing but tortuous. That is why we are crying that government should develop our area. We deserve some basic amenities as people from whose land oil is drilled to sustain Nigeria,” he said.
For youths such as Johnson, the NDDC projects are the only government presence they can relate with as the interventionist agency had consistently tried to live up to the expectations of the people.
The intervention in Olero Creek communities is, by no means, isolate. The NDDC had previously undertaken similar notable projects. The historic transformation of Trofani community in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State is one such ground-breaking interventions.
Hitherto landlocked communities in Sagbama will forever cherish the18-kilometre Odi-Trofani Road and bridges, tearing through virgin forests and swamps, thus changing their lives for good. Remarkably, it was on account of the road constructed by the NDDC that vehicles drove into Trofani through a land route for the first time.
If Odi was given a gateway into the Nigerian nation, Trofani was liberated from topographic isolation and it would forever remain grateful to the NDDC, because before the road was opened, it was a swamp-locked community on the banks of the River Nun.
In fact, when the first set of vehicles entered Trofani in 2006, after the completion of the bridges, the community was thrown into tumultuous celebrations. The children ran out in large numbers shouting “moto! moto!” Their excitement was understandable because majority were seeing cars for the first time.
The NDDC had helped Odi to rise from the ruins of a military invasion in 1999. Riding through the quiet streets of Odi today, one could hardly see the “scars of war.” Slowly but steadily, development is blurring the dark marks of destruction visited on the town.
Acknowledging the important role played by the NDDC in the Odi transformation, Chief Apre noted that the commission gave his people two very important keys to development.
The Odi-Trofani Road traverses three major communities, namely Odi in Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area, Aduku and Trofani in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
A representative of the Trofani traditional institution, Chief Asherifa Torru, agrees that the NDDC played a historic role in the restoration of Odi.
He summed up the feelings of his people thus: “Our hearts are filled with profound joy on the construction of the Odi-Trofani Road.”
Mr Hope Okuta, a welder plying his trade along the Odi-Trofani Road said his people from Trofani could not easily forget that some years ago they could not drive their vehicles home because there was just no road for that kind of luxury. Then, he said, both the rich and the poor could only get vehicular access to Trofani through Patani in Delta State or through the River Nun.
Another coastal community that shares a similar story with Trofani is Nembe also in Bayelsa State. For the people of Nembe, the 27-kilometer Ogbia-Nembe Road with seven bridges and more than 50 culverts launched them into a new life.
The N24.5 billion project, a partnership between the NDDC and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), is already connecting 14 communities which were previously inaccessible by road.
Although the road has not been inaugurated, the people are already looking ahead to the second phase which will take it to Brass.
The Vice-Chairman of the Nembe Se Congress, Dr. Ebinyo Young-Dede, said recently that they were eagerly waiting for the commencement of work on the Nembe-Brass section.
The prospects for launching the second phase look good as potential partners are impressed by what the NDDC has done so far.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, made it clear that the lawmakers could be counted on for support.
After a recent tour of the Ogbia-Nembe Road, Senator Nwaoboshi could not hide his joy as he declared: “I wish that we can have this type of project all over the Niger Delta and I wish we have this success story in all the projects.”
Yet another star project by the NDDC is the multi-billion Naira Ibeno Bridge and the 6.87-kilometre Iko-Atabrikang-Opolom-IwuoAchang Road in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
The N10.4 billion Ibeno Bridge, spanning 600 metres across the Qua Iboe River connects Iko, Rikang, Akata, Opolom, Ikot-Enwang, Okoroutip and Iwochang communities with about 24 others.
Although the bridge has been completed, it has not been inaugurated because the NDDC wanted to ensure that the road connected all the intended inland communities. Thus, a contract for the second phase was promptly awarded in 2014.
