Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark, has blamed the October 1, 2023 tanker explosion at Koko Junction, along Warri–Benin Highway in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State, which claimed death 20 lives on the neglect of the federal roads in the South-South region.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja in his open letter to President Bola Tinubu, the elder statesman noted that though the region is responsible for the bulk of the country’s wealth, it has been left to wallow in total neglect, marginalisation and deprivation.
The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, October 1, was reported to have occurred following a spark from a faulty vehicle while the persons were scooping fuel that spilled from the tanker.
Clark said: “Although this region singularly produces the bulk of the wealth of this country, and we see the impact of the natural resource that is daily taken out of our soil in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and almost every other part of the country, we are left to wallow in total neglect, marginalisation and deprivation.
“The recent accident at the Koko Junction could have been averted if, particularly in the past eight years of President Muhammad Buhari’s government, efforts had been made to look into the state of our roads.”
According to him, under Buhari’s administration, the region suffered the worst neglect.
He recalled that in October 2021, the Federal Government approved NNPC’s request to take over the reconstruction of 21 federal roads nationwide, totaling 1,804.6 kilometres, at N621.2 billion, under the Federal Government’s Executive Order No. 007 of 2019, cited as the companies income tax (Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme) signed by President Buhari. “From the information that was made available, in terms of kilometers (length of the roads), the South-South had the least with only 52.2 kilometers. The North Central had 1,479.9 kilometers; the North West had; the North East had; the South-East had 122 kilometers and the South-West had 119 kilometers. The question we asked at the time was what were the reasons for such an absurd distribution? What was the yardstick?” he stated.
The PANDEF leader also recalled that former minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, had disclosed that he had about 13,000 kilometres of roads and bridges under construction and rehabilitation in 856 contracts, comprising 795 projects and aggregate length of 815 kilometers of roads and 733 m of bridges. He noted that the only project listed in the South-South zone was the construction of a two-lane bridge at the Cameroon-Nigeria Border at Ekok/Mfum.
“The critical question, in all of these is, where are the roads and bridges in the South-South zone in the said list of 854 contracts comprising road and bridge projects of the Ministry of Works and Housing?”
He further recalled that in January this year, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its meeting of January 18, 2023, which was presided over by then Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, approved another request by the NNPC to reconstruct 44 additional roads across Nigeria at N1.9 billion.
“The East-West Road and Benin-Sapele-Warri Road were not captured. For the federal government to wait until less than a month to the end of its tenure to reportedly approve NNPC’s takeover of the reconstruction of the Benin-Sapele-Warri Road is deceitful and insulting,” he said
The former minister of information under Gen. Yakubu Gowon, stressed that the South-South region has been neglected for eight years resulting in the people dying daily.
He called for urgent steps to be taken to fix the roads of the region that lays the golden egg.
“Maybe, as an old man, I should mention that this state of affairs is already leading to a build-up of frustrations among our people, and the outcome may not be pleasant to all of us if the situation continues as it is. This situation, as they say, of robbing Paul to pay Peter may not go on well for too long.
“I am, therefore, appealing to you as the Head of State, who has pledged to take the whole country as his constituency to pay attention to our people, even when we, as leaders, continue to prevail on them to keep the peace. I trust that an urgent action will be taken as our people are silently saying within their hearts that enough is enough.
“Government is a continuum, and today you are on the saddle. I, therefore, urge you, as leader of the South-South region, to reverse this trend of neglect, which is known worldwide. I urge you to break this jinx of resource curse and the pain that our people have borne for decades and stamp your name in history as it pertains to the Niger Delta development,” he said.
Clark described as shameful and disturbing, the silence of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and other appointees from the region for fear of losing their positions.
“I must speak my mind at all times. I’m very much ashamed and disturbed that our legislators in the National Assembly and other appointees of government, including the President of the Senate, believe that whatever they get from the federal government is a favour, from whom? From the fellow Nigerians who do not even contribute to a kobo to the revenue of the country? So, that’s what we are facing. And our people cannot talk because of the fear of their position and who are the sufferers? Their own people in the South South; our people are frustrated,” he said.