Recently, it was reported that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the reconstruction of the Oyigbo-Izuoma-Mirinwanyi-Okoloma-Afam Road along with several other deplorable roads across Nigeria.
The project was said to have been awarded to Transcorp Plc (owners of one of the power plants in the area) based on the federal government’s new infrastructure funding strategy known as the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme (RITCS), which allows interested corporate giants operating in the country to bid for the development of new roads or the reconstruction of dilapidated ones in return for the enjoyment of tax waivers for the period it will take to fully recoup their total project outlays.
But a keen examination of the report will reveal that while firms like MTN, BUA, Dangote, GZI and a number of the other listed companies were assigned roads measuring over 50 kilometres on the average, Transcorp got only 13.5 kilometres of the now hellish Oyigbo-Afam Road in Rivers State.
For those who may not know this, Oyigbo and its nearby Afam communities had, until lately, been caught in a web of underdevelopment occasioned by deliberate abandonment under successive central and local administrations. It was surprising to many when it was noticed that even as an area known to host the famous Afam Power Station since the early 1960s, Afam communities were only connected to the national electricity grid after President Olusegun Obasanjo took office in 1999.
The injustice is better understood when we consider the sustained bombings the area was said to have suffered on account of this critical national facility during the early periods of the Nigerian Civil War. Of course, the station was a major target for federal war planes and artillery weaponry until it switched hands and began to incur the wrath of Biafran guerilla units.
The creation of states which placed Oyigbo as a boundary area did not also help matters for the people. Until the final recommendation of the Mamman Nasir Boundary Commission which firmly situated it in Rivers State (using the Imo River as natural boundary), Asa and Ndoki people on the other side of the riparian divide had tenaciously laid claim to the town.
With the boundary issue permanently rested, the military administrations on both sides became more confident to invest in their respective parts of the previously disputed areas. On the Rivers side, for example, Monier Construction Company (MCC) was commissioned to construct a road from Oyigbo to Obete, with an extension from Umuagbai crossing the Imo River to link Akwete in present-day Abia State.
But more than four decades after its construction, the road is now worse than a death trap. And this is even as the Afam power facility has continued to expand, with the building of additional plants by Shell and the Federal and Rivers State Governments. In addition to Shell, other companies said to be present at the cluster include the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), Transcorp, Daewoo, Alcon, TCN and PHED.
It would be recalled that at the time of Transcorp’s acquisition of the federal government’s stake in one of the Afam power plants, Oyigbo youth had protested against such move coming before the latter’s fulfilment of its agreement with the host communities. From reports, the communities had in 2017 and 2018 extracted commitments from the federal ministry of power to dualise Afam Road from Oyigbo Junction to Obete; build a cottage hospital in the area; construct a 12-classroom block; and reserve 40 employment slots for local hands. On its part, the ministry had promised to commence work on the road by January 2019, but never did. Instead, it was said to have turned around to sell the government’s share in the plant to Transcorp.
It was obviously for this reason that the Abuja authorities finally awarded the RITCS contract to Transcorp. And also for which facilitation the firm’s chairman, Tony Elumelu, literally feted Rep. Chisom Dike of Eleme/Oyigbo/Tai Fed Constituency at an unrelated event in Abuja.
All this notwithstanding, the people of Oyigbo seemed to have heaved a sigh of relief when it was recently announced that the State Executive Council, presided over by Governor Nyesom Wike, had approved for a N25 billion loan to be obtained for the execution of some projects in the state, including reconstruction of the Oyigbo-Afam Road.
Desmond Akawor is chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and an indigene of Oyigbo LGA. He most exemplified the mood of the people over this latest state gesture. The nation’s former ambassador to South Korea, while thanking the state governor profusely, recounted the present administration’s blessings to Oyigbo people. These include Mbano Camp reconstruction, Oyigbo-Agbonchia Road, multimillion naira cassava flour processing plant, construction of GSS Obeakpu, and now the reconstruction of Oyigbo-Afam Road which he claimed was abandoned by the immediate-past administration in the state.
The joy of Oyigbo people may also have derived from the Wike administration’s reputation for quality projects delivery, remarkable turnaround time and the assurance of fund availability, among other comparative ticks.
I want to believe that the said Oyigbo-Afam Road is not a federal road. So, it becomes easy to suspect that there was no attempt by the powers in Abuja to relate with the state authorities prior to awarding the RITCS contract. Nevertheless, this does not suggest that Transcorp should start singing Halleluiah over the new development. Surely, it is not yet freedom for the Nigerian conglomerate.
While we cry that the authorities in Abuja hardly consider Rivers State for schemes of this nature, it is not likely that we will miss to grab any of the very few that are flung in our direction. If Abuja conducts a proper liaison with the state government, the Transcorp contract can still be rechannelled toward rehabilitating about 13 internal roads in Oyigbo town at an average of one kilometre each. What a big relief this will bring to residents of the place!

By: Ibelema Jumbo