Senate summons Kyari, NNPCL GCEO, RCC, Permanent Secretaries Fed. Ministries over delay of East-West Road since 2006
Oredola Adeola
The Senate ad hoc committee set up to investigate the failure of governments to complete the East-West Road since 2006, has summoned Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Mr. Nader Yusuf, Managing Director of RCC Construction Company, and permanent secretaries of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Niger Delta Affairs, Petroleum Resources and Finance to present their briefing on the delay on the project.
EnergyDay gathered that the Red Chamber led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, set up the committee on Tuesday after consideration of a motion sponsored by Senator Barinada Mpigi, demanding urgent need for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Onne, Eleme axis of the East-West road.
The GCEO NNPC Ltd, MD of RCC Construction Company, and permanent secretaries of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Niger Delta Affairs, Petroleum Resources and Finance have been invited to present detailed information on reasons for prolonged delays and abandonment of the project.
Senator Mpigi had earlier in his motion revealed that the 7 km stretch of the Federal Government Trunk A road — a major economic artery in the Niger-Delta region which traverses the Eleme-Ogoni corridor and also connects the South-South, South-East and Western parts of this country — had remains moribund since 2006.
He further stated that despite spending huge funds on the project, such a critical national project, if abandoned, would bring untold hardship and neglect and exacerbate the suffering and pain of the people.
EnergyDay’s check showed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in 2022 agreed as part of the strategic intervention under the Federal Government Road Infrastructure and Refreshment Tax Credit Scheme, to fund the reconstruction of the section 4 of the East-West Road, portion from Eleme roundabout to Onne Junction.
Further checks showed that the East-West Road project, being handled by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, is the largest infrastructure project in Nigeria, as it connects the country’s.
The delay in the completion of the project was attributed to poor funding since the contract was awarded in 2006 by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The road project is a four-lane dual-carriage 361km highway, which traverses states such as Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
Some sections of the road project were handed over to the Federal Ministry of Works on March 30, 2022, following the inability of the Niger Delta Ministry to fast-track the projects.
