By Michael Egbejule
A group, Ugu Youths, from Orhionmwon Local Government Council Area in Edo State has called on President Bola Tinubu to probe the controversial completion and commissioning of the Abraka-Oben reconstructed road project by the Minister of Regional Development Commission, Abubakar Momoh.
The youths claimed that the Abraka-Oben road commissioned by the minister started and ended in the Delta State axis of the Benin-Abraka road.
The Coordinator of the Ugu Youth Association, Monday Osemwenkhae, said the community was still in search of the reconstructed Abraka- Oben road reconstructed by the NDDC in their community.
He insisted that there is no road in the Niger Delta called Abraka-Oben road, but Benin-Abraka Road.
Osemwenkhae appealed to President Bola Tinubu to revisit the Abraka-Oben reconstructed road project recently commissioned by Momoh for an on-the-spot assessment of work done on the federal highway.
Osemwenkhae noted that the federal road project commissioned by the Minister of Regional Development Commission is domiciled in Delta State and not connected or extended to the Oben community in Edo State.
Earlier, an elder in the Oben community, Chief Friday Omoragbon, lamented that the Minister commissioned the road in Delta State and captioned the said road as the Abraka-Oben Road project, which he noted was wrong.
“No road like Abraka -Oben road in Orhionmwon Local Government Council Area. What we know here is called Benin-Abraka Road. Our representative on the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was not present at the commissioning, only those from Delta State attended the road project commissioning by the minister,” Omoragbon said.
“We are not aware of any reconstructed Abraka-Oben road in our community. It is all lies that NDDC reconstructed the road called Abraka-Oben. We the people of Oben community are not even aware if the NDDC reconstructed the Abraka road let alone Oben section of the road.”
Responding, Commissioner representing Edo State on the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Patrick Asowerien, said the road project is yet to be completed, noting that only phase one of the Abraka-Oben road was completed and commissioned by the Minister.
He noted that only 9.8km of the road was commissioned by the Minister.
He faulted the narrative by the people of Orhionmwon that the Federal Government has completed and commissioned the Abraka-Oben federal road, saying, “Nobody claimed that the federal government has done or completed the Oben road axis of the project.”
Asowerien added that the Oben-Umugun road axis linking the Benin-Abraka highway in the Orhionmwon Council Area of Edo State is 12.18km and is yet to commence.
