Nembe Chiefs Hail NDDC for Completing N24 Billion Ogbia-Nembe Road

The Nembe Council of Chiefs in Bayelsa State has commended the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for constructing the N24 billion Ogbia-Nembe Road in partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC.  

Speaking in an interview in Nembe, the Secretary of the Opu Nembe Bassambiri Council of Chiefs, Chief Afrebo Okpoma, said that with the completion of the Ogbia-Nembe Road expectations were that work would commence on the Nembe-Brass section.
Okpoma who spoke on behalf of the chairman of the council, Chief Senanyo Daniel Ben-Kuro, noted that the success story would be complete when the road gets to Brass which hosts an Agip terminal.

He said: “The end point should be the Brass terminal. For now when the people of Brass get to Nembe, they have to use a boat to get to Brass and we all know how dangerous waterways are. So, this benefit that we are enjoying from the Federal government should extend to all Nembe communities, particularly Brass, which is the headquarters of the former Brass Local Government. If the road is linked to the terminal in Brass, it will help us open the commercial way for the Nembe people who are merchants.”

Chief Okpoma said that with the completion of the first phase to Nembe, the communities in the area have been spared the dangers of travelling through the waterways.

He observed: “Before the road, we were traveling through our waterways, but since the road was completed, we now drive in with our vehicles.”

Listing the benefits of the road, Chief Okpoma said that it had reduced the rate of theft in the communities. He noted: “When we were travelling through the waterways, there is always these bad boys confronting the passengers and robbing them. There was this fear each time we were travelling that the bad boys may be there. But since this road was constructed, we no longer witness such ugly incidents.

“Secondly, commercial activities have increased. Our Ibo brothers, who are not good swimmers, were not coming here to trade when we were coming through the waterways, you don’t see them coming here to trade. But since the road was completed, the Ibo traders are now coming in with their goods during our market days.

“Another benefit is that our people now commute between Nembe and Yenagoa freely up to late in the evening. If you leave here by 6pm, before 7.30pm you are in Yenagoa and likewise one can travel from Yenagoa to Nembe at any time. Our secondary schools have been upgraded from grade C to B because of the road link.”

Chief Okpoma remarked that before this time, building materials were brought through the sea and that made the items very expensive. He explained: “Today, we pay far less than what we were paying before the road. So, it has reduced the cost of building and increased the number of buildings in our communities. New buildings are springing up daily because of the road.

“What we can say to NDDC is that if you have a child that is doing well, you have to praise the child and encourage him to do more. The NDDC can help us to open our village roads for to help reduce the problem of unemployment for our youths.”

A regular user of the road and an indigene of Nembe Bassambri, Dr. Iti Orugbani, described the road as fantastic. He stated: “You cannot compare any project to this road. The days of frequent boat mishaps are over for us. We are truly enjoying the road.”

“We are very grateful to the NDDC for constructing this road. We applaud the Commission because for us there is nothing you can compare to this road. In the past people used to hear about boat mishap in Nembe, but these days we hardly lose lives in the waterways because most people now use the road. We no longer have to deal with the problem of encountering sea pirates.”

He gave kudos to NDDC and the Executive Management, urging them to continue with the good work they were doing, advising that they should distance themselves from politics to avoid being distracted.

It could be recalled that the NDDC Acting Managing Director, Prof Nelson Brambaifa, said recently at the Niger Delta stakeholders’ interactive forum in Port Harcourt that the road would be commissioned soon.

Professor Brambaifa said that the project, covering about 29 kilometres and with spurs to 14 other communities, “will open up the whole area for renewed economic and agricultural growth.”