The recent disastrous explosion that claimed several lives and properties is not new, but a routine indictment on past administrations that played politics and failed to fix the Eleme-Onne axis of the East-West Road in the last 24 years, ANN GODWIN reports.

The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, avers that questions of the State, how it should be organised, and pursue its ends, are fundamental to the achievement of citizens’ happiness.

Unfortunately, that wisdom is observed more in breaches than in compliance in the Nigerian State. And that is true of the parlous state of the Eleme-Onne axis of the East-West Road in the last two decades despite the successive administrations.

Indeed, the corridor has been a major campaign highpoint of successive administrations since 2006 when the project was awarded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Each political party’s candidate had promised the Niger Deltans that the road would receive attention as soon as they are voted into office. None has fulfilled that promise.

It will be recalled that Obasanjo awarded the project in 2006 at N211 billion but could do nothing until it was budgeted in 2007. After a review of the project, Sections I and II, covering Warri to Kaima and Eket were completed, but Section IIIA covering Port Harcourt /Eleme junction to Onne Port Harcourt was abandoned.

As a result, motorists and other road users have been exposed to mortal risks and a harvest of deaths. On April 26, 2024, for instance, a pregnant woman and four other road users were burnt to death by a tanker explosion, which occurred as a result of a collision of two trailers, whose drivers were jostling for space in the bad spots.

Also, over 50 trucks and tricycles, among others, were razed in the inferno. The disaster escalated the agonies of the road users and their relatives, who were already passing through severe economic challenges in the country.

Before that incident, on October 13, 2022, to be precise, four people were killed after a 40-foot tanker lost its balance on the narrow bridge along the road pushing a moving Toyota Siena car and Toyota Hilux from the only narrow bridge into the Aleto River.

Barely seven days before that incident, eight persons in a commercial bus from Trailer Park Onne, heading to Port Harcourt, also died after their bus skidded off while trying to navigate through the bad spots.

In August 2017, a teenage girl was smashed to death by a heavy-duty vehicle in an attempt to navigate through a bad spot. Sadly, of the 338km of the East-West Road covering Warri to Oron, through Kaima and Ahoada, the major section causing the grave pains is just about 15 kilometres.
Why Section IIIA was abandoned, others fixed

While Sections I and II got the government’s attention and fixed, section IIIA covering Port Harcourt /Eleme junction to Onne Port Harcourt was abandoned.
An earlier memo from the Ministry of Niger Delta, sighted by The Guardian, claimed that the Onne section was not part of the initial contract award in 2006 because the section was in good condition having been earlier dualised.

However, a reliable source in the Presidency told The Guardian that the section was part of the others awarded in 2006, and had already gulped N40 billion by 2020. But, the section deteriorated as a result of heavy axle loading, and flooding and was unable to carry current traffic volumes along the area.

Notably, the allies of former President Muhammadu Buhari from the Niger Delta region, like former Governor Chibuike Amaechi used the road to campaign for Buhari’s election into office. Apparently, to uphold the promise, Buhari in June 2020, approved the immediate release of N19.67 billion to ramp up efforts in completing the section of the East-West Road project.

The efforts, according to Buhari, were to address the infrastructure deficit in the Niger Delta region and boost its economy, assuring that the fund would be followed by a forensic audit. Despite the approval and assurance, nothing was on the ground to show for it, a year after.

On July 2021 during a weeklong protest and barricade on the road by the Ogoni Youths and various stakeholders, who were piqued by the continuous neglect of the road, the then Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Apkabio, represented by Babayo Ardo from the Ministry, admitted that the work on the road failed due to poor yearly budget.

Ardo acknowledged that apart from earlier N6 billion mobilisation payments that year, it has succeeded in providing N10 billion and N25 billion in the 2020 and 2021 yearly budgets of the Niger Delta Ministry for the road.

Cumulatively, available data so far showed that the 15km road has gulped about N99 billion from the previous administrations till 2021 and this is aside from other funds that were not publicised, yet nothing to show for the sum approved and released for the work.

A road construction expert with Monier Construction Company (MCC) based in Port Harcourt, said that the 15km section axis of the road could be completed in 16 months if the Federal Government becomes sincere, demonstrates commitment in releasing funds, and ensures adequate monitoring and implementation.

While the work is proceeding gradually from the Trailer Park axis of the Onne Road, many residents have argued that the State Government, led by Governor Siminalayi Fubara, with the rise in the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from N11billion to N27 billion, should have assisted and intervened by making other axes of the road, especially between Akpajo to Eleme, motorable to avert further disasters.

But a financial and economic analyst, Ignatius Chukwu, said the fund required to fix the road – N762 billion to now N100 billion – would have a huge gap in the State’s N27 billion IGR. He described the road as a Federal Government’s Road “A” project and not what the state could shoulder.

Reacting to the development, a public administrator, Samuel Friday, queried the Federal Government’s delay in fixing the all-important road, which has been in a deplorable state.

Also reacting, a resident, Zorgii Gininwa, who hails from the Ogoni axis, said, “Our greedy political do not mean well for their citizens.” He lamented, “Successive administrations have come and gone yet failed to address the issue of this road that has taken the lives of hundreds of people, what they are good at is to deceive the gullible ones but reckoning awaits them for their ill human treatments.”

Joseph Barine, who lost his brother in the recent tanker inferno on the road, said his brother died as a result of government neglect, stating that the politicians, leaders use the construction of the road as a conduit pipe for selfish financial gains.

Another resident, Ugochukwu Azubuike, queried: “Must the Federal Government wait for tragedy to occur before they do the right things?” For the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), State Commander, Chris Kuje, three major factors cause road traffic crashes. They are the driver, the vehicle, and the environment.

He said: “Roadworthy vehicles are essential for road safety because a mechanically deficient vehicle is an accident in waiting.

“To get rid of rickety vehicles on the road, the command has a special team that allows patrol teams to impound rickety vehicles at sight and carry out awareness to enlighten people,” he said.