Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has warned people he described as ‘enemies of progress,’ to shelve their plans to frustrate the commencement of the Nembe-Brass Road project in the East Senatorial District of the state.
Diri gave the warning during an emergency meeting of the state executive council at the Government House, Yenagoa, on Wednesday.
The governor disclosed that although his administration was almost finalising payments for construction work to start, there were indications that some persons were holding meetings to stall the progress of the work.
According to him, “The Nembe-Brass Road is critical and very important to this government and, in particular, the people of the Nembe and Brass Local Government Areas.
“However, it has come to the notice of the government about those enemies of progress, who are meeting to ensure that that road does not kickstart and that if the road starts, there will be impediments, kidnappings, and all other plans.
“May I call on the youths of the Nembe and Brass Local Governments, the leaders of the two local governments to see that project as their own. As a government, we can only bring it to your domain. You can take the horse to the water and you cannot force the horse to drink the water.
“However, the people of Nembe and Brass that I know will not reject that project. For us as a government, we are committed to the construction of that road but it rests on the users of that road to own that project like the way the Southern Ijaw people have owned the Oporoma Road (Central senatorial district), and the people of the West (senatorial district) have owned the Sagbama-Ekeremor Road.”
Recall that the state government had, on May 11, 2022, awarded the contract for the construction of the first phase of the Nembe-Brass road to Setraco Nigeria Limited at the cost of N54.1bn.
