Imo youths protest over bad roads

YOUTHS in the Umuapu, Ohaji/Egbema Local Council, numbering about 2,000, at the weekend barricaded the major road in the area for hours, preventing motorists plying the road from other parts of Imo State and Rivers State access to the road.

The youths, who had positioned themselves in the early hours of the morning at the bad spots of the road, claimed that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), abandoned the road for several months, leaving the area in a deplorable condition.

They asked the authorities to explain why the oil-rich community should be made to suffer. The placard-carrying protesters brought motorists to a standstill for hours, threatening to descend on anyone who attempted removing the items used in blocking the road.

Placards they displayed read: “Are we citizens of Imo State Nigeria?” “Oil community, no road, no water, no electricity, no hospital. Drivers and passengers, bear with us.”

One of the protesters told journalists that they would remain there for more hours, adding that the next time they embarked on such protest, it would take a more serious turn.

He complained that many big trucks, tankers and vehicles had got stuck on the road because of its condition, calling on the state government to intervene.

It took a government official who addressed the protesters before the items blocking were removed for traffic to flow. No official of the NDDC in the state was available to speak on the issue as at the time of going to press.