Excitement has trailed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) inauguration of a nine-kilometre Obehie-Okeikpe Road in Ukwa West local government area.
The road, which links Abia State with Akwa Ibom State, was built at a cost of N9 billion.
At the event at Obehie, the headquarters of the council, the managing director/chief executive officer of the commission, Samuel Ogbuku, said the road was the first phase of the project.
“The second phase, which was flagged off at Akwete in Ukwa East local government area shortly after the inauguration, would begin from Okeikpe and terminate at the Abia boundary with Akwa Ibom,” he added.
Ogbuku promised that the commission was poised to do more projects in the region to meet the people’s needs and aspirations in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“We’re ready and committed to doing more for the people of the region for supporting the good programmes of the president,” he noted, urging the communities to protect government property in the region.
“Communities should protect the government facilities provided for them and ensure they were not vandalised because it will take time and additional resources to replace.”
In his remarks, the executive director of the commission in charge of projects, Victor Antai, said the project was fully completed and executed according to specifications.
“Akwa Ibom is predominantly agrarian, so the road means so much to the socio-economic activities of my people,” said the Akwa Ibom State born executive director.
Speaking also, the state governor, Alex Otti, thanked the commission for its intervention on the road as well as other ongoing and completed projects in the state.
Represented by his deputy, Ikechukwu Emetu, Otti said the road was impassable and posed a serious nightmare to motorists and the people before the commission’s intervention.
