Yenagoa—Governor Douye Diri, yesterday, received a delegation from the Nembe-Se Congress (NSC), a socio-cultural group, under the leadership of Sir Ebi Domo-Spiff.
The governor during the visit, assured members of the group of the commitment of his administration to complete the ongoing Nembe-Brass road and urged them to maintain peace in the area.
“Up till today, two of our local government area headquarters, Twon-Brass and Oporoma, and all the other communities cannot be accessed by road.
“That is why this Government has taken it as a priority to ensure that these two roads – Nembe/Brass road and Yenagoa-Oporoma road are taken to the local government headquarters.
“We have succeeded in taking the road to Ekeremor because when I came in as governor, the road had already gone far, so we made sure the road is completed, so now, we can drive to Ekeremor town, which is the headquarters of Ekeremor Local Government Area.
“We will not abandon Nembe-Brass and the Yenagoa-Oporoma roads, because these are very important roads to us as a State, and indeed to Nigeria,” he said.
Diri who further speaking thanked the group for giving serious attention to the construction of the landmark road as well as providing security for the site workers, urged people to “move beyond playing politics with development, and projects of that magnitude that will be beneficial, not only to us, but to generations yet unborn.”
According to Diri “I like to appreciate the Nembe-Se Congress for giving serious attention to the construction of the Nembe- Brass road. On the day of flag-off, you were all there in your numbers, and you have continued with it up until today by monitoring the success of work going on in that project.
“We can’t play politics with that road, and we will not also like people to play politics.
“We should move beyond playing politics with our development, and projects of that magnitude that will be beneficial, not only to us, but to generations yet unborn. We will continue to do our best to complete these projects in record time.
“Let me thank you for partnering with Government, because, some people will sit back and criticize, but that’s not what you are doing, but you are following up on what government is doing, contributing to it, and where there is a gap, you book to see the Governor and advise. I think that is what elders and leaders should be doing.
“I want to thank you for the security on that road construction, because we have not had too many security concerns with the communities involved in the construction of the Nembe-Brass road, but there is still one basic problem we have in Nembe, a security problem that is brewing.”
He continued, “As a government, we will not sit down for anybody, no matter how highly placed, to make Nembe- Bassambiri in particular, ungovernable”, Governor Diri stated.
Earlier, president of the Nembe Se Congress, Dr. Ebiegberi Domo-Spiff, lauded Governor Diri for taking the bull by the horns to kick-start the Nembe-Brass road project.
He called on government to strictly monitor the project by appointing a consultant with the relevant expertise to ensure that it meets the specification and that it is completed within the timeframe.
Dr. Domo-Spiff also appealed to the government to provide ferry boats to ease water transportation in the Nembe and Brass axis as well as ensure strict compliance with maritime laws to improve safety on the waterways.
He equally requested for a campus of the Bayelsa Medical University in the area, to which the governor responded that he will look into the law establishing the institution to see if there was provision for a multi-campus structure.
Top among those on the Nembe-Se Congress delegation were Emeritus Professor E. J. Alagoa, Prof. Ayebaemi Spiff, Prof. K.D Alagoa, Senator Nimi Barigha-Amange, Alabo Nengi James, inter alia.
