Nigerian Governor Laments Collapse of East-West Road, Calls for Immediate Reconstruction
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has expressed his deep concern over the collapse of the East-West road, a critical transportation artery in Nigeria. Diri made the remarks during the 2024 Niger Delta Stakeholders Summit in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where he urged President Bola Tinubu to hand over the reconstruction of the road to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) if the current contractors fail to deliver.
According to Diri, the East-West road has become a nightmare for travelers, with the journey between Yenagoa and Port Harcourt taking four hours, compared to the usual one to one and a half hours. He described the situation as unacceptable and called on the President to take immediate action to restore the road to its former state.
"We have also witnessed recently the construction of the coastal road that is going to run from Lagos to Calabar. And we want to appreciate and thank the President for that," Diri said. "However, I would like to appeal that as the construction is commencing from Lagos, let it also have a concurrent commencement from the Calabar axis of the road."
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal road project, which is expected to cost over N15 trillion, will traverse nine states along Nigeria’s coastal shoreline, linking the A1, A2, A3, and A4 highway corridors vertically crossing the western, central, and eastern regions of the country.
The Governor also commended President Tinubu for prioritizing the Niger Delta region by appointing a board and management team on time. He urged the President to ensure a complementary approach to the execution of the project, with concurrent construction from both ends in Lagos and Calabar.
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, represented President Tinubu at the summit, where the Governor’s remarks were made.
