Adode Wades Into Agbarha-Otor, NDDC Crisis Over Road Construction, Appeals For Peace

By Balogun Mabamije

The Chairman of Ughelli North Local Government Council, Chief Godwin Adode, has wadded into the crisis between some Agbarha-Otor communities and the NDDC over road construction.

The peace meeting, held at the council secretatiat, had in attendance, representative of NDDC, HERITAGE Company and leaders from the host communities.

Adode in his remarks appealed to the leaders of the communities to allow peace to reign by giving room for peaceful resolution of the crisis, just as he chided NDDC for the delay in paying the contractor handling the 11km road, awarded since 2011 to S. O. Olotu Construction Company which had affected the delivery of the project.

The chairman assured representatives of the communities that the local and the state governments would write to NDDC to mobilise the contractor handling the road project so that he could move back to site for the project to be completed on time.

Chief Adode also prevailed on Heritage Company, represented by Prince Jeremiah Oharisi, to render assistance to the communities by putting some interim measures in place that could make the road accessible, thereby providing succour for the people.

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The D PO, Agbarha-Otor Division, SP Sa’ad Abdlallahi, in his remarks said the project was long overdue for completion and urged NDDC to do the needful to avoid crisis in the area, just as he appealed to the communities to remain calm while actions to complete the road project were ongoing.

The legal adviser to the communities, Mr Nefe Kigho Samuel (Esq), disclosed that they had written severally to NDDC on the road project without any response from there, hence the people took their destiny into their hands which resulted in the protest.

He lamented that despite the huge oil resources gotten from Agbarha-Otor communities, NDDC had not shown commitment towards the completion of the road project awarded years ago.

Earlier, the contractor handling the road project, Evangelist S. O. Olotu, a renowned contractor in the locality, took time to explain the cause of the delay in completing the project, which was tied to lack of timely payment on the part of NDDC.

Evangelist Olotu listed some condition that could help them to move forward to include cooperation from the communities, speedy payment by NDDC, just as he called for revaluation of the contract to meet with the present high cost of materials.

The representative of NDDC, Mr Atirene, appealed to the communities to remain calm and urged them to write again to NDDC on the project, assuring them that the project would be completed soon.