The Onicha community in Ubulu-Uku, Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State on Friday peacefully protested against the abandoned road project by the National Delta Development Commission, NDDC in 2015 after the award of the contract.
The community said they are calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to re-open it’s file and investigate the alleged misappropriation of N245 million released for the rehabilitation of the Onicha-Uku/Onicha-Ugbo road that was awarded in 2015.
The community also called on the State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, NDDC and the World Bank to come to their rescue before erosion would sweep the entire community away.
The community said the fund allocated for the project was released for the rehabilitation of the deplorable road, which links Abuja, Lagos and Asaba, by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
They claimed that nothing has happened in terms of work done stressing that the present condition of the road is a death trap.
The protesters carrying different inscriptions on their placards, described their situations as untold hardship, claiming that both the State and Federal governments have abandoned them to their fate.
The community decried the fact that the residents have resorted to unsustainable self-help efforts.
The Secretary of the community, Osaji Ephraim Iwebunor, who read the content of “Save-Our-Soul Letter,” said they have been deceived on several occasions by officials of the NDDC.
He explained that the NDDC, always pretend to be working on the road, but would disappear after achieving their sinister motives.
“In 2019, some persons came to parade themselves as workers who came on instructions of the Senator representing Delta North, Peter Nwaoboshi who incidentally was representing us in the NDDC Senate Committee at the time
“The workers came with their tools, including bulldozers and other equipment. Few days after loitering around, the workers disappeared with their tools
“We later found out that the so called workers appeared in our community ostensibly to give impression to the EFCC team visiting Delta State at the time to investigate some NDDC abandoned projects that work was in progress,” Iwebunor said.
According to him, the EFCC, should re-open investigation into the road projects, which he described as a scam and conduit-pipe, for the NDDC to siphon money adding that the Commission had failed to leave up to their expectations as far as the project was concerned.
