Outrage as Bayelsa communities protest dumping of refuse on road

Ijaw Youth Council (lYC) and Movement for the Survival of the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) have expressed concerns over the dumping of refuse on the road linking Gbarain communities to the Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa.

Our correspondent learnt the road constructed by Shell Petroleum and Development Company (SPDC) had been serving as an access road to communities such as Nedugo, Agbia, Ogboloma, Okolobiri and others to Yenagoa through the Etegwe-Amassoma Expressway.

Shell constructed the road some decades ago, it was learnt, to link its Etelebu Gas Plant located behind Ogboloma community and it has since been serving as an important access road to adjoining communities.

However, a visit to the road by our correspondent showed it has been blocked by heaps of refuse deposited allegedly by refuse evacuators engaged by the state government.

Worried about the blockage, the Chairman of the Bayelsa State Environmental Sanitation Authority, Tolu Amatu, had made efforts to stop the dumping of refuse at the site to no avail.

A major significance of the road, according to locals, is that it saves people coming from Yenagoa the stress of turning round to the LNG-Obunagha road before accessing the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri, especially when there is a case emergency.

Speaking to our correspondent on the situation, the IYC representative in Gbarain Clan, Samuel Asuka expressed dissatisfaction, stressing that the state government was watching, while such an important road was being destroyed at a time the state needs road infrastructure.

Asuka said: “This is mere wickedness to the people of Gbarain and Bayelsans in general. There is a place designated for the refuse dump but at the end of the day, they have now blocked the road constructed for our people by Shell.”

Also expressing anger over the situation, the Secretary of MOSIEND in Gbarain Clan, Obed Gigi said: “When it is time for our people to harvest their crops, this road used to give them easy access to transport their crops to the city but now that the road is blocked, they have to spend more money, time and energy, turning round to get to their destinations.”

An opinion leader and native of Ogboloma community, Madu Gigi, also condemned the condition of the road, adding that since the blockade of the road, Shell had withdrawn its maintenance since the oil and gas giant no longer uses the road.