Delta Govt Apologizes To Elumelu Over Delayed Issele-Uku NYSC Camp Road Project

The Delta State Government expressed regret for the embarrassments the NYSC National Orientation Camp Road Project delay at Issele-Uku caused the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, and the people of Aniocha North Local Government Area, particularly the people of Issele-Uku and Onicha-Uku.

Recalls that several enraged youths halted Elumelu’s convoy from entering the community because the abhorrent road project’s construction was taking longer than expected.

Reacting to the development, the State Commissioner for Works (Urban and Highways), Mr. Noel Omodon, expressed apologies for the embarrassment the delay project had caused him during a news briefing on Wednesday at his office in Asaba, the capital of Delta State.

Omodon claimed that part of the reason for the delay was the need to fix a technical defect with the road that the contractor had discovered when he first started working on the road. He noted that the contractor had brought the issue to the State Government’s attention and that the contract needed to be reviewed to make room for the correction.

The correction, he revealed, entails diverting flood water at the lowest point of the road through Captain Nwosu Street and into a channel by the Issele-Uku/Idumuje-Unor road. Additionally, he claimed that the contracting company, Neodede Construction Company, was partially to blame for doubting the state government’s resolve to allay all of his concerns in the review.

“We want to really appreciate the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ndudi Elumelu. He is a very strong and supportive person. He has been very supportive. He is not the kind of person who sits down and waits until a miracle happens. He will always reach out. For all the work he has been doing in that area, we are quite appreciative, and we want to assure him that we will not let our guards down.

“Rt. Hon. Elumelu has been very assertive about getting the problem sorted out, and he has done a lot, very frankly, but we just feel that we are letting him down because the contracting firm was not following up with his pace. But I hope we are not causing him too much embarrassment.

“We shall definitely catch up with him. “”We regret the embarrassment it must have caused him, but it is very unfair for the people not to realise that he is doing a lot for them.”

He strongly denounced what occurred in Idumu-Ogo and argued that it is sad and unfair of those individuals to not recognise the good deeds the Minority Leader has been doing.

Omodon added that the contractor returned to the job site last Wednesday and that work on the drains along Captain Nwosu Street has officially started.

The commissioner declared that the contractor will have everything they need to complete the road project, adding that due to the rain, sharp sand was approved for sand filling rather than laterite. However, he claimed that the contractor is now confident and that the work is proceeding as planned.

“We are going to try very hard to ensure that we deliver all the roads, including the palliative work the State Government is doing at the Onicha-Ugbo/ Idumuje-Ugboko Road. It is a federal government road, but we are working on it.

He said efforts are being made to activate and open up the ongoing Onicha-Ugbo/Idumuje-Ugboko Road with a view to allowing traffic from Idumuje-Ugboko down to the Benin/Asaba Express Road and there through Onicha-Ugbo down to Idumuje-Ugboko in order to address the challenge of vehicle movement on the road as work progresses on the NYSC National Orientation Camp Road.

“Our problem is that they are shifting all the traffic to Issele-Uku and that is not fair.” Our roads there are not meant for such heavy traffic where heavy duty vehicles ply the road often. We are discussing with our contractors handling the Onicha-Ugbo-Idumuje-Ugboko Road palliative work whether they can bring in boulders and granites for us to seal off the bad portion along the ongoing project and allow movement of vehicles.

“It is going to cost us a lot, but we are committed to doing it! Thank God we have gotten a partner, a company that is in the quarry business. Their business is being affected, and they have agreed to supply the granite. So in no distant time , we are going to bring all traffic back to Onicha-Ugbo From there. They hit the expressway and not our roads.

“We are very sympathetic with the pains the people of Aniocha North, particularly the people of Issele-Uku and Onicha-Uku, have to go through as a result of the road.

“Everybody is embarrassed about it, and I hope to get all the heavy duty vehicles out of Issele-Uku in the shortest possible time,” he said.

The commissioner gave the assurance that actions are being taken to present a memo to the State Executive Council on the necessity of repairing some of the damaged roads, which were brought on by the influx of heavy duty vehicles passing through the Issele-Uku metropolis to access the Benin/Asaba/Onitcha Expressway, especially the Ogbeofu Road.