Amuokpokpor-Elume community in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, south-south Nigeria, has appealed to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to resume work on the collapsed road connecting the agrarian community to other parts of the council.
The community made the appeal while interacting with newsmen following their continuous complaints about the deplorable state of the road, loss of life, and paralysis of their economic activities just a year after its completion by the contractor.
Daniel Ogbodo, the community chairman, who recounted how the project started in 2020, alleged that the contractor used substandard materials to carry out the project, resulting in its outright failure after one year of completion.
According to the community chairman, the road constitutes a “death trap” owing to the presence of heaps of stones, exposed construction iron, and no drainage.
“At the project’s inception, the community was filled with jubilation, knowing the struggles residents had faced with poor road conditions for years. However, we were surprised that the newly constructed concrete paved road did not last a year before deteriorating, leaving the community in a worse state than before the contractor’s intervention.
Community elder Olu Majelele and Felix Emuobonuvie, President General of Elume District, urged NDDC to revisit the site and construct a good road, bemoaning the immense hardship resulting from the road’s deplorable condition.
They highlighted the challenges caused by the poor road conditions, including frequent falls and delayed vehicular movement.
“Currently, the Amuokpokpor road is almost impassable because the rods and other metal objects utilized in its construction has resurfaced. This has resulted in the bursting of motorcycle and vehicle tyres. Consequently, no one wants to ride their motorcycle or drive their vehicle into the village for fear of punctured tyres.
In the recent past, this road has been the site of a heartbreaking incident that led to the loss of our son, whose vehicle overturned, resulting in his instantaneous death. A visual inspection of the road, which was built less than five years ago, reveals the existence of multiple potholes. We humbly request that the NDDC deploy their site engineer to inspect the road and provide support to the Amuokpokpor-Elume community, as this road serves as the community’s sole access route, Majelele and Emuobonuvie submitted.
On behalf of the women in the community, Mrs. Mercy Izobo and Mrs. Bridget Emuobonuvie shared the difficulties they experienced in conveying their goods to market.
According to the women, the men and women of Amuokpokpor are involved in farming various crops, including cassava, rubber, timber, fishery, plantain, snails, yam, palm oil, among others, but encounter difficulties in marketing their processed products due to the prohibitive transportation costs, as drivers demand a hundred percent fare increase, attributing it to the bad road conditions, leading to spoilage of their farm produce at home.
Others who also spoke, including John Otuma, Samuel Izobo, Comedy Ogbodo, Richard Edi, among others, commended the NDDC for initiating the road project in their community, but appealed to them to address their concerns and complete the road project to transform the community landscape and enhance economic activities in the area.
Furthermore, they appealed to the NDDC to extend the road project to the riverbank, including a jetty and drainage system, to safeguard the riverine community against flooding resulting from heavy downpours and riverbank landslides.
