Construction giant Julius Berger has halted work on the project at the DSC Roundabout, PTI Junction in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.
The decision follows nationwide protests against poor governance in Nigeria, driven by concerns for the safety of their workers and the potential risk of attacks, theft, and equipment damage.
A Daily Post correspondent currently monitoring the protest around town reports that the construction workers evacuated from the site two days ago.
Commenting on the development human rights activist, Harrison Itulua said: “Today being the first day of August 2024 that’s supposed to be the commencement of the protest, we are not against peaceful protest but against violent protest whereby youths will burn tyres on the streets, block the roads, depriving others of their rights. Inasmuch as they have their right to peaceful protest, others have their right to free movements.
“One of the dangers of violent protest is we will scare developers away from the state and Nigeria at large. For instance, the Delta State Government has paid heavily for the construction of flyovers within PTI Junction, Enerhen Junction and DSC Roundabout. Surprisingly, construction giant Julius Berger evacuated the site during our monitoring of the protest exercise for dear of the unknown so that hoodlums do not hijack the protest. Since the president has given us his word that NNPCL should sell crude oil to Dangote in naira as well as adopt other measures, I think we should give him some time because we don’t want our state to be 10 years backwards.”
He stressed that the violent protest during the ENDSARS in 2020 in Udu communities led to the destruction of many banks.
“This is the reason we are calling for a peaceful protest,” he said.