The Ogoni Youths movement for Economic Liberation and their Bonny counter-parts have tasked the federal Government to expedite action on the abandoned Bodo-Bonny Road by re-awarding the contract to a more competent contractor.
The youth bodies made the demand while conducting journalists around the abandoned road project on February 4, 2012.
Speaking to media men, the President, Bodo City Youth Federation, Mr. Kpobari Patta, told journalists that the people are shocked over the delay of the road as it is still at the very minimal stage.
Mr. kpobari lamented that the abandoned road which has about eleven bridges has not taken its shape but observed that the jetty at the Bodo waterfront has killed not less than four fishermen, including women as the company blocked the Community right of way in the creek.
He stressed the need for the provision of an environmental Impact Assessment [EIA] report on the road.
He said since 2003 when the contract was awarded to Gitto, the company has done nothing and has abandoned the job.
The youth President blamed those who brought Gitto since they are ill-equipped and lacked the technical know-how to do the job, even if they complained of lack of money.
On his part, the Bonny chapter chairman of the Bonny Youths Council, Mr. Kingsley Pepple, said the Bodo-Bonny road is too important, not to the two Communities alone, but to the entire nation, as Bonny is the hub of oil and gas in Nigeria. yet surprisingly Bonny has no access to the island.
The youth chairman could not understand why the federal government will continue to joke over the road of this magnitude, as Bonny people continue to perish while crossing the high sea. He said since there are no available roads into the Island, prices of goods and service are on the high side and there is no way to escape from the island in times of danger.
Comrade Lekie on his part stated that since the beginning of the road project the economic activities of the people have been taken away in the midst of the environmental degradation.
He emphasized that inefficiency was shown on the part of Gitto on the work so far, and appealed to the Federal Government to quickly intervene by terminating the Gitto contract and re-awarding it to a competent one.
Earlier, the facilitator of the Bodo-Bonny Road Project, Mr. Kadilo Kabari, who spoke on the need for synergy by both the Gokana and Bonny Youths Council, has condemned in strong terms the way and the manner the Bodo-Bonny road was abandoned, especially as it has no budgetary allocation in the 2012 budget.
Mr. Kadilo however, suggested that the Federal Government should use some part of the subsidy money to invest on the road, considering its importance to national development.
Answering questions on the rationale of the interface, he said, its importance could not be overemphasized, stressing that the ill-timed N1 Billion coming to Gitto construction cannot put the road to completion, having identified a lot of prevailing factors against the present contractor of the road. He said the Ogoni Youths and their Bonny counterparts are demanding its inclusion in the current subsidy investment plan.
The programme which is the first of its kind, according to Kabari, is also fact-finding and non-violent; blaming the funding pattern and capacity gap of the contractor on the door step of the Federal government.
Mr. Kadilo is also a member of the management committee of the Youth Council of Nigeria.
In another development, the coordinator of Ogoni Youths under Amnesty, Ex-commander Probel Bestman, has urged the Federal Government to take urgent steps to complete the Bodo-Bonny Road with Eleven Bridges, regretting that none has been completed. Mr. Bestman told media men that Ogoni people are non-violent people and would only use dialogue and not confrontation in the pursuit of their request, most importantly the Bodo-Bonny road Project.
Pius Dukor
