East-West Road: Account for N506bn Funds or Return to Site, CODE, Stakeholders tell Contractor

… CODE Raises Alarm over Oil Spill in Akpajo Community By Paul Williams Non-governmental organization, Connected Development (CODE), community-based organizations and media stakeholders in Rivers State have called on the contractor handling the Ahoada East/ Eleme section of the East-West Road project to account for the N506 billion funds approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for reconstruction of the road. This followed months of apparent non-implementation of reconstruction or rehabilitation activities for the flood-damaged road, with a resultant heavy financial and physical toll on commuters and commercial transport operators conveying goods and passengers between Rivers and Bayelsa states. The 2022 flooding in the Niger Delta had washed away portions of the road, halting transport activities and forcing the FEC on November 2, 2022 to approve the sum of N506 billion for the reconstruction of the road and to mitigate the negative impact of the flooding in the area. Seven months down the line, the road remains as the floods left it, pushing CODE, members of surrounding communities, who suffer the brunt of the problem, community-based organizations and media stakeholders in the state, to rise in a call for the contractor, Setraco, to return to site or account for the N506 billion approved by FEC. Our correspondent gathered that while tracking the FEC-approved N506 billion road rehabilitation project fund, as part of the Community Media Collaboration for Climate Justice (CMCCJ) project, implemented by CODE and funded by OXFAM Nigeria, Connected Development’s “community based organization and media collaboration team, embarked on a community outreach to Ahoada East Local Government Area on November 13, 2023 to ascertain the level of work done on the Ahoada East axis of the East West Road. “On a visit to the project site, it was observed that some form of skeletal work had commenced on one side of the road, about two poles. While the very bad portion washed off by erosion remains the same and abandoned, leaving motorists to just one lane of the Ahoada East section of the road, which strategically connects Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Edo states,” the CODE team said. Also, as part of its effort to achieve climate justice in the Niger Delta, Community Media Collaboration for Climate Justice (CMCCJ) project, funded by OXFAM Nigeria, Connected Development equally raised alarm over “the present and impending danger confronting the Akpajo Community, in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State following an oil spill in the community. Read more: https://phmundial.com/east-west-road-account-for-n506bn-funds-or-return-to-site-code-stakeholders-tell-contractor/

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