Kwanee Blames Commissioner’s Shooting On Bad East-West Road

Former University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) Vice Chancellor, Prof Nimi Briggs (left), and Executive Secretary, Petroleum Development Trust Fund, Dr Oluwole Oluleye in a discussion at the 2nd International Conferences on Petroleum Refining organised by Indorama Petrochemical Plc and UNIPORT Institute of Petroleum Studies, in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday.

The Deputy Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon Leyii Kwanee, has called on the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs,Elder Godsday Orubebe and the Federal  Government to expedite action on the completion of the East-West Road to save the lives of road users in the region.
The Deputy Speaker,who made the call in Port Harcourt, shortly after visiting the Rivers State Commissioner for Sports, Fred Igwe, who was attacked by armed men along East-West Road, said that the bad state of the road had claimed many lives.
Kwanee stated that if the road had been in good conditions,armed men could not have had their way on the spot the Commissioner was attacked.
The Deputy Speaker said that from the Sports Commissioner’s account, the gunmen attacked him at a very bad spot on the road and shot indiscriminately at his car.
He further stated that many people had been victims of the bad road following attacks by armed men or avoidable accidents.
He said although some officials abhored objective criticisms, “we must say the truth , as more South-South people are either dying or being maimed as a result of the state of the road”, adding that every responsible citizen of the South-South should condemn the slow progress of work on the road because “we are feeling the pinch. Roads in other parts of the country are receiving serious attention, what is our own offence?”, he asked
Kwanee, who is also the Chairman, Parliamentary Exchange and Mentorship Programme of the Pan African Parliament,urged the minister to give the road proper attention it deserved by being on the neck of the contractors, visiting the project sites regularly and disbursing milestone payments as required.
He also condemned the increasing crime wave in the State and called on the police to come to the rescue of the people.