Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has faulted the criticism of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project by a former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke.
Donald Duke has stated that the project was an impossibility due to swampy terrain.
The 750km highway project being constructed by the Federal Government traverses nine coastal states, including Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River.
The former governor stated that “The Lagos-Calabar Road is unbelievable. You cannot even go through Bayelsa. Bayelsa is a swamp. Even Yenagoa, the capital, is a swamp. Nothing that will probably have to build about 100 or 200 bridges to go through those swamps.”
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, Governor Duke expressed disappointment that a former governor of a South-South state in the heart of the Niger Delta region would criticise the project due to politics and not based on fact or reality.
The Governor said Duke’s reference to Bayelsa and its difficulty, swampy terrain was out of sync with the reality about development in the state.
Governor Diri contended that if Duke was in tune with happenings in Bayelsa state, where his administration had built roads and bridges across swamps and the mangroves, he would have known that the coastal road project was possible.
He noted that his administration has successfully constructed dual carriage roads and bridges in similar terrain and the state is better for it.
The Governor sited The Nembe-Brass road, the Sagbama-Ekeremor-Agge road, and the Yenagoa-Oporoma road, which are major causeways in the three senatorial districts of the state and are all in swampy terrain. Ditto for the 630-metre bridge across River Nun at Angiama community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, which is one of the longest in the region.
The statement further added that the project was critical to unlocking development in the states and riverine communities along its pathway.
According to him, the coastal highway is also very dear to the Ijaw ethnic nationality as it is one of the projects that the Ijaw National Congress (INC), even from its inception in the 1990s, clamoured for.
He said it was only the administration of President Bola Tinubu that eventually undertook the project after many years of presenting the request to previous governments at the centre.
Governor Diri explained that this was one of his reasons for joining the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the interest of his people was paramount.
He cautioned against politicising development during election seasons as the consequences were often borne by the people that politicians seek their votes.
NTA News
