The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa state has chided
Governor Seriake Dickson for claiming the credit for construction of
Ekeremor road done by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Governor Dickson had last week made what the state government termed
as “Historic motor ride to Ekeremor Local Government” an area which
was not access by road in the past fifty years.
Deputy Chairman of APC in Bayelsa state, Chief Orubebe Ogoibiri,
described the governor’s claimed as fallacious, adding the governor is
only striving to make serious political gain of the trip by ascribing
the entire credit of the project to himself, while hiding the real
truth about the road project from the people.
He said: “The road the governor claimed to have constructed to
Ekeremor is the brainchild of the Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC). The undisputed fact about the road project is that the NDDC
commenced the road construction from Sagbama to Toru-Orua, with a very
solid bridge at Tungbo.
“It is important to also state that the road constructed by the NDDC
from Sagbama to Toru-Orua, which predated Dickson’s governorship, and
which the commission handed over to the governor was a very solid and
standard job, with proper road mapping and surveying, sand and
concrete filling and asphalting. Not surprisingly, the governor did
not let Nigerians know this bare fact in his bid to lay total claim to
the road project.
“When the governor took over the road construction from NDDC, he
promised to construct the road up to Agge, maintain the same civil
construction standards established by the commission, unfortunately,
what the governor celebrated last week was a mockery of what road
construction ought to be.
“At the point where the governor started the road construction in
Toru-Orua his community, water channels and canals, which ought to
have culverts and bridges were filled with caravan and sand, thus
compromising the standard and quality of work on the road.
Aside from the portion of the road done and commissioned by the NDDC,
the rest other stretch done by the governor comprised mere scanty
stone and sand fillings that obviously cannot stand the test of time.
“Truly speaking, road construction by the standard of the job done by
NDDC before the government took over, the governor has not added one
kilometre of completed work from where NDDC left off.
“In fact, the celebrated stone and sand fillings carried out by the
governor were done in such unplanned and uncoordinated manner that it
distorted the natural water ways and canals, as well as the natural
eco system of the people.