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By George Agba
President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) BoT chairman, Tony Anenih should be blamed for the continued neglect of the Bodo-Bonny road project in Rivers State.
According to him, if the project which was first awarded 11 years ago under Obasanjo’s tenure before it was cancelled was being executed 5km per year in the 8 years of that administration, the project would have been nearing completion by now.
Speaking when the elders and traditional rulers from Rivers State led by the King of Bonny Kingdom, King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple 111 paid him a visit at the Presidential Villa, Jonathan assured that with the conclusion of reassessment of the project, the road will be re-awarded, adding that nothing will stop it until it is concluded this time around.
He said, “About the Bonny road project, if the previous governments had been doing it 5km a year, by now, we would have gone far. That was during former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime. That was when Chief Tony Anenih was minister of works. If we have been moving 5km a year from that time till now, we would have gone far.
“We will see how to work with the people of Bonny to improve on the development of the area. Definitely, you need more social amenities so that the people will have what it takes to live a normal life. On the Bonny road project, it is almost like the story of the East-West road that was awarded without proper planning. We will ask the management of the NDDC to see to it.
“I won’t want to bore you with details of the lapses in the first procurement of the Bodo Bonny road. Why the contract didn’t hold was because there were major lapses. It’s almost like the story of the East West Road that was awarded without proper design and so with time, it got stuck. We just had to come back and that is what happened to the Bodo Bonny Road”.
Leadership
