East-West Road Needs Urgent Intervention - Governor Diri Tells Tinubu

Gov Douye Diri

Gov Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene on the situation of the East-West road.

Diri advised President Tinubu to not only focus on the Lagos to Calabar Coastal Highway.

Diri said this on Friday while giving a welcome address at Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Stakeholders Summit in Port Harcourt, monitored by our reporter.

He said while it was commendable that the federal government is constructing the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, major roads like the East-West road should not be ignored. He said Nigerians are suffering plying the East-West road.

Diri said his journey which was to take him one hour from Yenegoa to Port Harcourt took him four hours. “It should take one hour to one hour thirty minutes to travel from Yenegoa to part Harcourt. Those of us that go on convoy, it takes one hour. But I had to spend four hours to come here,” Diri recounted.

He added, ”I was scheduled to take flight, but I said no. I want to experience what the people experience. People of Bayelsa use the road and it was a bad experience.”

Governor of Bayelsa State advised President Tinubu to “take away the construction of East-West road”  from the current construction company and “give to NDDC to construct if they cannot do it.”

On his part, the chairman of the NDDC Stakeholders Summit, ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan, called on politicians from the Niger Delta region to allow NDDC to carry out its function without intrusion.

Jonathan said until politicians from the region started intervening in the activities of the commission, NDDC was performing.

Jonathan said the world is moving outside oil exploration. He advised Niger Delta communities to focus on educating youths to have requisite skills needed in the world.