BY FRED EDOREH
Tongues have been wagging over the viral video of a Sapele content creator who, as a way of calling attention to a bad road in his city, decided to dramatise it by bathing in a flooded portion of the road.
Perhaps, the escalation of the video was aided by the news of the arrest of the producer by the police, though released same day, and the public was outraged over the seeming attempt to suppress his freedom of expression.
It has been made clear that neither the Governor of Delta State, His Excellency, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, nor the State Government had anything to do with his arrest. For emphasis, Oborevwori would never do any such thing, rather, he encourages members of the public to promptly inform the government when they suspect that any contractor is doing a shoddy job on any project in their community.
He indeed demonstrated his receptiveness to public complaints, even criticism, when he responded swiftly to a post he saw on social media about the manner of work on the Ibusa/Achalla/Asaba Phase II Road, wherein he directed his Commissioners of Works to immediately investigate and subsequently ordered the contractor back to site.
To institutionalize and deepen communication between the public and the government, he had indicated, even before the Sapele video was made, that he would provide a direct phone line through which members of the public can directly reach him to lodge complaints.
That said, I will describe the Sapele video as a true story that gives a false narrative. I say so because while, in truth, the Extension Road which the video complained about is truly in bad state, the impression it has tended to create, that the Oborevwori administration is not working well or hard enough on roads, and in Sapele particularly, is far from the truth.
Unarguably, Gov Oborevwori has launched one of the most ambitious roads construction and rehabilitation programmes, possibly of all the states in the country, presently.
In Warri and Effurun, just close by Sapele, the government is carrying out the construction of three flyover bridges with a cloverleaf and road expansion projects at once. That is besides hundreds of other roads already reconstructed or being rehabilitated in the twin metropolis.
There are also other projects like the Trans Warri Ode Itsekiri Road, the Ogolo/Okuodiete Road, the Orere Bridge, a number of street roads done in Ughelli, and many more, some completed and others ongoing, in that axis.
In the case of Sapele, before the video was made, the government had already announced that the state has arrived at the point of the rehabilitation and revival of the city.
The evidence of that commitment is in the award of contracts for the construction of a number of major and internal roads, streets and drainages in Sapele.
They include Major Bowen Road, linking Ogorode Road from Okpe Road; Benin Road, from Green Egbedi Road at Olympia, linking Abeke Road; Uko Road, from Benin Road through Otuedor Road, linking Ugberikoko Road; Obule School Road, from Orodje Grammar School, off Shell Road to Okirigbagha by Okirigwe; and Alegbe Road, from Abeke Road, linking New Ogorode Road.
Others are Hausa Road, from Shell Road Extension to Commercial Avenue; Agbeghe Avenue, linking Uko Road; Old Sapele-Warri Road, from Amukpe Junction to Ikwewu Community, with a spur to Hon Austin Ayemedejor Close, Amukpe; Okirighwre-Benin Road, from Sapele-Warri Road to Gammon Bridge; Orhorhor, Chichester and Benjamine Oseregbaje roads; and, indeed, Extension Road, from New Ogorode Road, linking Sapele-Warri Road, the very road the video complained about.
A number of these projects are going on simultaneously, just as with other projects in various rural and urban communities in the three Senatorial Districts and virtually all Local Government Areas of the state.
What probably happened in Sapele was either the content creator was not aware of the projects already awarded, ongoing or recently approved in his area, even though they were well publicised or, following the incidence of the raining season and the difficulties it posed for movement in his community, he became impatient and had to vent, notwithstanding that the government was already paying attention to many of the roads in Sapele, and would do even more as the administration proceeds.
It must be noted that there are tens of thousands of roads to be attended to across the state and they cannot all be done in a fell swoop. Based on the flow of resources, needs assessments and evaluation, they will be attended to in phases.
The arithmetic is very simple and revealing. Delta State has 25 Local Government Areas and the highest number of urban and semi urban towns across the nation. On the least average, each of the LGA headquarters most probably has a network of 100 roads and streets. That is about 2,500 roads. It is much more for urban areas like Warri, Effurun, Sapele, Abraka, Obiaruku, Agbor, Asaba, Okpanam, Ogwashi-Uku, Kwale, Oleh and Ozoro, some of which should have between between 300 and 1,000 roads and streets. Let us say that gives us another average of 5,000 roads.
Outside the headquarters, each LGA also has about 10 wards, meaning 10 other towns or rural communities, each of which would probably have about 50 or more roads and streets. That is about 500 more roads in each LGA, meaning about 12,500 rural roads across the 25 LGAs. From these, the state probably has about 20,000 roads and streets to deal with.
Of course, so many have been constructed through successive administrations, but a lot many are in need of attention, either for new construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation or maintenance, and it would be unreasonable to expect the administration to deal with all of them at once. It is even much more difficult and expensive in riverine communities, and half of Delta is riverine.
The true situation in Delta is that the Oborevwori administration inherited 154 roads with 345.33km of drainage projects. Many have been completed while others are ongoing. The administration has initiated further 56 new roads and 50.358km drainage projects, and as we speak, there are about 210 road projects of 548km ongoing simultaneously in the state.
Their impact would certainly be pronouncedly felt when they are completed, and the government is effectively funding and vigorously pursing their completion, while also paying equal attention to other sectors like health, education, agriculture, commerce and industry, security, and also making important social investments for the economic upliftment of the people.
For the avoidance of doubt, Gov Oborevwori is fully aware, concerned and committed to solving the needs of the people. He will never suppress their voice because their pain is his pain, but he is working in full throttle to elevate the socio-economic conditions and standard of living of Deltans. All that is needed from the people is patience, understanding and support, with the assurance that as the administration proceeds, many of the unreached would most be reached.
Indeed, even this writer is praying that the administration would bend over to give attention to the need of Umeh, Erowha and over 15 of their adjoining communities, villages, hamlets and farm settlements to be connected by road to their Isoko mainland and sister communities, most possibly with renewed action on the Uzere-Umeh-Patani road which was commenced by the NDDC.
