Community Bemoans Abandoned Projects

The Paramount Ruler of Agbura Community in Yenagoa council area of Bayelsa State has faulted the state government for abandoning projects sited in the community.
Speaking to The Tide duringn an interview on the state of projects earlier awarded by the government, Paramount Ruler of Agbura, HRH E.N Daufa, described the spate of abandoned  projects in the Community as worrisome.
He indicated that between 2005 -2006, a contract was awarded by the state government for the construction of an internal road linking Agbura Community and neighbouring Otuokpoti Communitiy, regretting that no fewer than a decade and four years there after, the road has not still been completed.
The monarch berated successive  administrations of the state for what he described as ‘lack of  political will’ to develop the suburban community, saying that if the projects awarded to the community were completed, they would have not just impacted on the economy of the community, but the state economy would have also been positively affected.
“ I don’t understand what the Bayelsa State Government is doing to Agbura Community,the Oxbow lake-Agbura Road has been withering away without completion,the housing estate for which land was acquired by the government from thi Communitiy for it has been abandoned.
The Agbura-Otuokpoti internal link road awarded many years ago has also been abandoned since. And just recently, the commissioner for Education came here with the intent of siting a boarding school here and the next thing we heard was that the school has been relocated”, he said.
Also speaking, the Secretary, Agbura Council of Chiefs, Chief Senior Andrew bemoaned the lack of basic amenities in the Community.
He added that it was high time the Bayelsa State Government started considering, the community for a facelift with adequate infrastructure like it is obtainable else where.
He said the lukewarm attitude of successive administrations towards community makes the community forced to say that the total absence of infrastructural projects in the community was a deliberate ploy by the government to de-market as well as label them as anti-government as another rounds of election were fast approaching in 2023.
“If the government still doesn’t turn a new leaf,the community having been certified by INEC and other relevant stakeholders as one of the largest voting strengths in the Yenagoa council area, may act negatively in the not too far elections coming up”, the community secretary said.

By: Stories by Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa