Vice President Kashim Shettima has urged citizens to desist from vandalising public assets, warning that such acts undermine development and economic growth.

Shettima appealed yesterday while inaugurating the newly constructed 33.5-kilometre Elele-Egbeda-Omoku dual carriageway in Rivers State.

The project is said to boost connectivity and enhance economic activities and is a critical transit corridor linking several communities across Ikwerre, Emohua, and Ogba–Egbema–Ndoni Local Council Areas of Rivers State.

The Vice President described the project as an example of a sub-national government’s efforts to expand the nation’s road network to enhance movement of goods and people as well as expand economic opportunities.

Shettima stated that roads are the most democratic instruments of development as they serve the farmer carrying produce to the market, the trader seeking customers, the worker travelling to seek employment, the student going to school, and the patient seeking medical care.

He recalled that the road being celebrated once stood as a warning rather than an invitation to commuters because of the deep gullies that made every journey a herculean task amid security concerns.

He applauded Governor Siminalyi Fubara for the intervention made by his administration, which has put the ugly memories people had of the road behind them. He said that by transforming the once deplorable route into a modern dual carriageway, illuminated for safer movement by day and night, Fubara has left an indelible mark in the hearts of the people.

Fubara emphasised that the completion of the road has transformed a route previously plagued by avoidable man-hour losses and insecurity into a fast and secure highway.

According to him, the Elele-Omoku Road is not just a signature project but an eloquent testimony of his administration’s love and care for the people of Rivers State, describing it as a promise kept.

For anybody who understands the nature of this road, they will appreciate what we have done here. It’s not just a project; it’s a statement that we have made to show our people that we care for them.

“We already know what normally happens on this road. It is a corridor for kidnapping; it is also a very big corridor for bunkering. I’m very, very convinced that with what we have done today, those things will be things of the past. Security agencies can now operate effectively along this corridor,” he said.

The governor acknowledged that the delivery of the project would not have been possible without the support of the people in the communities along the route. He thanked them for their unflinching support for his administration.