The Ogoni Youths under the auspices of Ogoni Generation Next Project (OGNP) have lamented the deplorable condition of the East- West Road especially the Akpajo-Eleme Axis, which host hundreds of Multinational Companies at Eleme and Onne in Rivers State.
The group made the observation during the inspection of Federal Government Projects sited within the Ogoni region in Rivers State over the weekend. The facilitator of the group, Mr. Kadilo Kabari stated that the Ogoni Generation Next Project made up of young Ogoni professionals decided to take the inspection tour to see things for themselves.
Briefing newsmen at Mogho Gokana shortly after the inspection, Mr. Kabari said there is no justification for the people of Ogoni to suffer in this magnitude.
He stated that there is no doubt for the suffering of the people especially where the East-West that link the Ogoni people to the state is so neglected where prominent Ogoni men have been Kidnapped, shot, wounded and sometime killed by motor accident.
The facilitator who led thousands of Ogoni Youths to the East-West road and the abandoned Bodo-Bonny road since eleven years said nothing has been done on the road so far.
He said the purpose of the projects inspection is to send a strong advocacy message to the Federal Government and for them to response immediately. Mr. Kabari said enough of blackmail of Ogoni political leaders, campaign of heat and hatred saying the neglect of those projects is not connected to the current political crises in the state which some people are already benefiting from. The group said these projects would eliminate poverty and transform the Ogoni area. “Just like the issue of UNEP report which the Federal Government has done nothing about, we are still appealing to the Federal Government to expedite action on these projects” he said .
Also speaking the Youth president of Bodo City, Gokana, Mr. Borve Paago at the Bodo Jetty stated that the abandoned Jetty has killed many fishermen and women in Bodo yet nothing has been done about it.
Mr. Paago used the event to explained the dangers surrounded by abandoning the project which will not do the Federal Government any good.
He expressed disappointment that the UNEP report is yet to be implemented, which is a total neglect of the Ogoni people who voted massively for this present administration. The youth president lambasted the Federal Government for not taking action of the road since Bishop Ignatus Kattey was kidnapped and a serving Commissioner for Sports, Hon. Fred Igwe was shot on the bad spot of the East-West road. The youth president said Bodo is very strategic to the economic development of the country as two largest oil pipelines to Bonny terminal pass through it and wondered why the Federal Government would hesitate to address the challenges of the people
