Edo residents protest abandoned NNDC road project

Residents of Palace Road in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, yesterday, staged a peaceful protest over their alleged abandonment by  the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). They barricaded the ever-busy Upper Mission Extension Road carrying placards expressing their displeasure with the abandoning of work on their road. Speaking with journalists in Benin, the […]

Residents of Palace Road in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, yesterday, staged a peaceful protest over their alleged abandonment by  the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

They barricaded the ever-busy Upper Mission Extension Road carrying placards expressing their displeasure with the abandoning of work on their road.

Speaking with journalists in Benin, the Odionwere of the community, Pa. Robert Owen, 74, said the road was contracted out by the NDDC in 2014.

“The commission did a little job and abandoned it halfway. The road leads to 12 communities, and you can see the gully and no attention from the NDDC that stopped the work”.

While calling on the Edo State government to prevail on NDDC to complete the job, he alleged that the work done so far on the road was substandard.

Gladys Kadiri, 63, said the abandoned road has led to the unprecedented flood in the community.

She said residents of the area have made  efforts to salvage the situation but to no avail as the flood has continued to wreak havoc in the area

A tricycle operator in the area, Mr. Friday David, lamented that the bad state of the road is affecting his business.

When our reporter visited the NDDC office in Benin for response, a staff of the commission, who declined to give his name, said the person in charge of projects was on vacation.

He said the issue would be investigated.