Dualisation: Ogoni smiles again as major road gets attention

It looks like a season of smiles for the Ogoni people in one week as a major road that tears the ethnic group through the middle, long earmarked for dualisation, has received several earthmoving equipment including bulldozers from the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike.

This comes few days after the Federal Government flagged off the much-awaited clean up in Ogoni after decades of waves of oil spills. Now, it seems that governments that failed in the past are in a hurry to wipe the tears of the people of the area, made of over 500,000 people in four local council areas.

The Rivers State government said in a statement in Port Harcourt on Monday, that in line with Governor Nyesom Wike’s pledge to complete and commission the Sakpwenwa-Bori Road to the Ogoni traditional heartland, work has started on the road.

Wike flagged off the Sakpwenwa-Bori on Thursday, May 26, 2016, a week before President Mumammadu Buhari (represented by the Vice President) stormed the area to cause happiness in Ogoni with the clean up as recommended by the United Nations.

The state government said preliminary work of grading the portions of the road, which was being dualised had been intensified with Ogoni indigenes expressing happiness that the governor was a man of his word.

Though the Sakpwenwa -Bori Road is expected to  be  completed  in 15 months,  Governor  Wike  said  that  he would sustain funding  to ensure that the contractors  delivered the road in 12 months.

According  to  him,  the  completion  of  the  road would save lives on the ever busy road and also boost the economy  of the area.

A statement  by  Simeon Nwakaudu,  Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media noted that Secretary to the  Rivers State Governor, Kenneth Kobani , who is a prominent  Ogoni indigene , commended Gov Wike  for starting work  on  the  road as he promised during his campaign.

He said  that  the governor’s  commitment to the  development  of  Ogoni land  was unprecedented,  pointing  out  that Ogoni  people  appreciated  the  governor’s  gesture.

Rivers State Finance Commissioner,  Fred Kpakol,  said that the  Ogoni  people would remain  eternally grateful  to  Gov Wike for delivering  on the road when others merely  played politics with it.

Former Member  of  the  House of  Representatives,  Dum Dekor, said that the governor’s  gesture towards the Ogoni people  is better appreciated  when the current financial  meltdown  affecting  states is put into consideration.

Despite these, some Ogoni sons have expressed fears of politicisation of both the clean up and the road dualisation projects due to excessive reference to failures of the past. The Peoples Democratic Party failed to start clean up of Ogoni four years after the UNEP Report was dropped on their laps at the federal level.

On the other hand, the All Progressives Congress has been blamed for not dualising the Bori Road despite several promises. Now the APC federal government is doing what the PDP failed to do in the clean up while the PDP at state level is doing what the APC failed to do on the Bori Road.

Rerun elections in Ogoni have been inconclusive, leading to fears that both parties may be fighting hard with projects to win the hearts of the Ogoni people, but that after the elections, the projects may slack especially in the hands of any party that may eventually lose.