Rivers Community Tasks NDDC On Road Project

The people of Omerelu in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State have called on the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to ensure that the area is included in its road project scheme by next year.
An opinion leader in the area, Sir Christopher Ejinmah, made this call during an exclusive interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, Monday.
He said the call became imperative after recalling how terribly his people suffered last rainy reason due to bad road.
Ejinmah, noted that part of the agency’s primary assignments was to develop rural areas in the region.
He regretted that the NDDC and its management have not responded to the yearnings of the people even after the community raised some memos to the agency.
Though he admitted that the state Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, had concluded plans to commence the project next year, but maintained that the federal agency ought to play a leading role in the scheme.
According to him, road projects should not be left in the hands of the state government alone, going by the present economic hardship in the country.
He was of the view that the present administration was tied with several projects and must not be allowed to over –labour itself.
The opinion leader, stressed the need for NDDC to have a comprehensive data of the communities in the Niger Delta that have not benefitted from its programme and do the needful.
On how bad the road was, he said it has become challenging as most economic activities in the area are gradually being grounded.
Ejinnah who also is a retired civil servant, blamed part of the economic challenges in Niger Delta on the inability of the companies operating in the area to execute its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in its host communities.
Earlier, he had called on the people to also learn how to develop what he described as maintainace culture, so as to enable them maintain the projects so far provided by the government.