Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana, has assured of the determination of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to see to the completion of the East West road project.

Umana gave the assurance when he appeared as a guest on Radio Nigeria Network Programme, “Politics Nationwide”.

The Minister said the East West road has been a defining project of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and by extension the prime project of the Niger Delta Region. He added that the road is a 338 kilometer dual carriage way that starts from Oron in Akwa Ibom State and runs through virtually all the States in the region to Warri in Delta State. From the records, about 80% of the road project has been completed.

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The Minister stated that President Buhari had last year directed the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to hand over the project to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. He said a significant segment of the road that the Ministry of Works is to address is the Eleme – Onne section, A 15 kilometre stretch which is going to be a Six Dual Carriage Way because it covers the Industrial Hub that houses the Eleme Refinery, the Indorama Petrochemical Plant, the Notore Complex and Free Zone, the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone as well as the Onne Port. In view of the above, the Minister stated that it was necessary for the project to be properly done and the Ministry of Works is to see to its completion.

The Minister urged the people of the region and communities affected by that stretch of the road to look forward to happy days as the Ministry of Works has secured funding for the project through the Tax Credit Scheme.

Similarly, the Minister has pledged to publish a compendium of projects completed by the Buhari administration from 2015 to date through the Ministry of Niger Delta and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by next month. He said the publication is to enhance transparency and accountability in the region as the report would be made available for public scrutiny by all the stakeholders in the region.