The Niger Delta Activist Forum has called on Setraco to immediately return to site and improve the standard of their work and complete the Portharcourt-Benin axis of the East/West road.
The Forum made the call in a Press Statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday and signed by National President of NDAF, Comrade Success Jack and Comrade Tamunoimama Tamunobelema, who is the Chairman of NDAF, Rivers State Chapter.
The Forum stated that, the current state of the East/West road, especially, the Port Harcourt- Benin stretch, is not only sorry but mortly and totally unacceptable to the people of the Niger Delta region.
The statement said that the road was contracted to Setraco who undertook the construction and delivered a most shameful engineering result.
“From the Elele-Ahoada- Mbiama- Sampou – Kaiama- Ughelli, Setraco delivered a dangerous and most shameful, global record-breaking piece of engineering sham. This portion is very undulating, irregular and with poor gradient, that constantly destroys cars, takes lives and endangers more lives on a daily basis.
“The areas around Tank/Eneka junction, Mbiama/Opowei/Sampou has totally failed to live up to its design life, thereby constituting a death trap and an unjust punishment ground, for Niger Delta people and all Nigerians alike who commute this road.
“There is a particular spot, just by the Opowei bridge, that has been ruthlessly notorious, for causing accidents and claiming lives on weekly basis, including motorists and even a newly married top naval officer and others because of a big hole constructed there by Setraco.
Nigeria did not pay Setraco to build holes and ditches on Federal highways,” the statement said.
The statement said that Nigeria did not spend hard-earned oil revenues to contract Setraco to construct a long and potent slaughter slab, for this massive genocide of epic proportion on her citizens instead of a good highway.
The Forum, however made the following demands from Setraco to be accomplished in the 21 days.
That Setraco should as a matter of urgency deploy back to the East/West road and do the needful, since they clearly betrayed the contract.
Setraco should be made to pay compensations to families, of Nigerians who lost their lives because of their bad job, and also be made to pay reparations to the Federal Government of Nigeria as holding trustee for the inconvenience(s) suffered by all Nigerians using that road.
Setraco and all engineers within the project monitoring and evaluation department, of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs who colluded to approve that piece of shame, should be thoroughly investigated and brought to book.
Council on the Regulation of Engineering Practice in Nigeria(COREN), Nigeria Society of Engineers need to, as a matter of urgency and emergency, investigate, scrutinize and re-accertain the technical capability of Setraco to undertake construction projects in Nigeria, sanction and penalize all defaulting engineers involved in this shame.
Setraco should return all payment monies, in their coffers from the Federal Government for further works, to the Treasury Single Account immediately.
“The Minister for Niger Delta should as a matter of National emergency institute a probe of what took place on this project.
“Meanwhile, the Niger Delta people can no longer tolerate, the deathly presence, of this carnivorous entity within our land henceforth.
“Finally, we want to thank President Muhammad Buhari for the statement of commitment, to finishing the East/West and also ask that the Abacha loot be made to include the rail lines linking Lagos-Calabar and Port-Harcourt- Maiduguri,” the statement added.