Hope dims for N726bn East West Road project

A 675km dual-carriageway meant to open up the entire Niger Delta states, linking them one to another as well as with the industrialized South-West region of Nigeria, the East West Road stretches from Calabar in Cross River State to Warri in Delta State, with an additional 23.9km included by former President Goodluck Jonathan to link Calabar with the oceanic town of Oron in Akwa Ibom State.

The road was conceived to link all major oil towns, beginning from Oron in Uyo to Calabar across Cross River and the Atlantic Ocean, up to Itu and Eket (Akwa Ibom), Port Harcourt and Ahoada (Rivers), Kaiama (Bayelsa), and Warri (Delta), up to Benin. From there, a traveller to Lagos would link up Okada Town (Edo), straight down to Ore, Sagamu, and then Lagos.

It was going to be a great relief to Niger Deltans because before the road was conceived, a traveller from the eastern wing of the Niger Delta would go through Aba, Owerri, Onitsha and Asaba before linking up to Benin and from there to Lagos or any other part of the South-West.

Ten years after, however, controversies still trail the project despite huge sums so far sunk into it. The project is far from completed even as road users lament the bad state of several sections of the road.

Obasanjo approved the EWR project in 2006 during a heated summit with youths of the Niger Delta. The youths had complained bitterly of neglect by the Federal Government, having seen wonderful houses and roads in Abuja when they attended a Sani Abacha (for president) rally, and insisted thus to have something akin to that in their region.

But soon after Obasanjo left office in 2007, many realised that it was an empty award. The first problem discovered was that the road had no design, and experts say it is impossible to execute any engineering project without a design that would lead to the project cost.

The next hitch was that the projected cost of the project, N211 billion, was not even captured in the 2007 budget, rendering it null and avoid since no such contract award could be realistic without budgetary cover.

When pressure mounted on President Yar’Adua, Obasanjo’s successor, to act, he revealed that there was neither a design nor a budget to fall back on, despite the presence of a Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs created by his predecessor to manage the road project. This seemed to cause shocks in the oil region. And the road was to wait through the harrowing days of the ailing president until a son of the region, Jonathan, came to power in 2011.

When Obasanjo awarded the road at the cost of N211 billion in 2006, many cried foul, saying a normal kilometre of road would normally cost N20 million, and that since the road was 338km times two, it would amount to 676km and would cost N132 billion. They wondered if the terrain of the swampy region and bridges alone were enough to pump the cost to N211 billion.

When Jonathan, a son of the soil, became president, expectations were high that the EWR would become a reality. Soon after his victory in 2011, he revised the costs to N726 billion, yet critics of Obasanjo’s N211 billion simply shut up. Officials of the Niger Delta Ministry said the cost reflected the designs which were absent in the 2006 contract sum.

But critics would eventually find the voice to query the cost, describing the multi-billion naira East-West Road as a conduit pipe for corruption. The Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs had also, on several occasions, sought clarifications on the award of the contract.

A northern-based newspaper, which looked back on EWR project costs, reported thus: “On August 18, 2011, the FEC approved N245.9 billion as augmentation sum for Sections I, II-I and II-II of the East-West Road contracted to Messrs Setraco Nigeria Limited. The contract sum of Section I (Warri-Kaiama) in Delta State was revised from N64.1bn to N112.16bn; Section II-I (Port-Harcourt-Ahoada-Kaiama) in Rivers State from N29.9bn to N48.9bn; and Section II-II (Ahoada-Kaiama) in Rivers/Bayelsa States from N44.8bn to N84.759bn. A sum of N671 million was on October 24, 2012 approved for the contract for consultancy services for the engineering design of the extension of the East-West Road (Section IV) from Oron in Akwa Ibom State to Calabar in Cross River State awarded to Messrs Siraj Nigeria Limited. In 2014 alone, a total sum of N479.2 billion was approved for the project. On October 22, a sum of N165.25bn was approved for the construction of Phase I, Section V of the road from Uyo/Oron Roundabout in Akwa Ibom State to Calabar-Odukpani Road in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, awarded to Messrs China Civil Engineering & Construction Company (CCECC).

“The FEC also approved N269.383 billion as ‘revised estimated total cost 2’ for the variation of engineering construction contracts for the dualisation of the East-West Road, Section I (Warri-Kaiama) in Delta State and Section II: Subsection II-I (Port Harcourt to Ahoada) in Rivers State and Subsection II-II (Ahoada-Kaiama) in Rivers/Bayelsa States awarded to Messrs Setraco Nigeria Limited. On November 12, 2014, a sum of N43.9 billion was approved for the upgrading of the 15km of the Section III of the road: Port Harcourt, from Eleme Junction to Onne Port Junction in Rivers State, awarded to Messrs Reynolds Construction Nigeria Limited. The Federal Executive Council, on December 3, 2014, approved N661.33 million for engineering supervision of the construction of Section V of the road (Oron-Calabar), Phase I in Akwa Ibom/Cross River States, awarded to Messrs Siraj Nigeria Limited. The former Minister of Niger Delta, Oru, had late last year disclosed that the East-West Road, initially scheduled for completion in December 2013, had to be shifted to the first quarter of 2015 because of inadequate funding. These sums give a total of N726bn.”

Despite its huge cost, the realization of the EWR has remained a pipedream. A product of violent agitation, the road seems to be the most controversial road project in Nigeria. The portion from Calabar (Cross River) to Itu (Akwa Ibom) seems the most pathetic. It appears that that portion was never awarded at any point in time; it has totally collapsed. Travelling from Calabar to the rest of the oil region stopped completely as the governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, a professor of environmental studies, testified last week. The economy of the state anchored on farm produce and stone crushing simply collapsed too, until few weeks back when Ibim Semenitari, Ag. MD/CEO of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), marched down with her directors.

Costs apart, the EWR produced two earth-shattering incidents. One was the verbal spa between former Rivers State Governor Amaechi and Godsday Orubebe, then a minister, over the Federal Government’s apparent inaction on the all-important road. The other was the death of the mother of the first lady in July 2013 in a ghastly motor accident blamed on the condition of the Emuohua section of that road.

Thereafter, work seemed to have speeded up on that section, but many other sections have remained a sad story, according to Nigerians who travel on it. Those in Cross River say no part has been touched, while the section from Port Harcourt to Onne has remained a case study despite some work done at the instance of Governor Nyesom Wike.

But the cry seems louder in Delta State than in Calabar. At Asaba, Boniface Ezeigwe, chairman of Motor Spare Parts Union in the capital city of Delta State, narrated to BDSUNDAY how the road is.

“From Okwe Junction, the road is terribly bad. People lament of how they suffer when they are travelling to Lagos. They lament how they spend three to four hours at that spot [Okwe Junction]. Buhari should do something to fix that road. Armed robbery incidents abound there but God has been helping our members because we convey our wares through waybills and as such we are not physically present with the goods,” Ezeigwe said.

“The problem is that with the bad state of the road and wastage of manpower, there is huge economic loss on that road because delay is dangerous. If the vehicle carrying the goods stays longer than necessary, it may equally affect the goods. Government should fast-track the dualization of that road,” he said.

Diamond Emuobor, a bishop and chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ughelli North LGA, believes that the East-West Road project is a hoax.

“It is a deception to the South-South region. Reason is since it was awarded, many other road projects awarded in other parts of the country have been completed and put into use,” Emuobor said.

“But the South/South region, the Niger Delta, which is the economic hub of Nigeria, has been neglected and I can say the Niger Deltans have been deceived with this white elephant project. What it would cost to complete that project is not more than one month crude oil,” he said.

On social media, the project is also a hot-button issue. Comments gleaned from social media discussions of the project are as interesting as they are eye-poppin.

“Section II is from Port Harcourt to the beginning of Akwa Ibom and from there to Oron. Eket-Oron Road isn’t dualised. Gitto only scratched some part and overlay with asphalt,” said a discussant.

“That explains a lot. Adjustments of over 100% increase after award of contract makes you wonder if they actually do feasibility studies before commencing on contract execution. There’s always allowance for error within ±12% but when it is 100%, then a lot of water has passed under the bridge,” said another.

Yet another citizen said, “I tell you brother, I drove all the way from Port Harcourt to Lagos on that road some weeks ago and it was a pleasurable ride, save for some parts of Bayelsa and Mbiama.”

This got an instant reaction from a critic who said, “I guess it’s not the same East West Road I ply almost every two months. I am plying that road next weekend. By then I shall confirm this your big, big talk.”

“N1bn per kilometre when an average road cost is below N200 million per kilometre,” said another discussant regarding the cost of the project.

Our correspondent in Akwa Ibom, however, reports that that section of the EWR project is going on smoothly.

“Work on sections of the East West Road in Akwa Ibom State has attained 70 percent completion with only a few kilometres left untouched though,” an official of the Federal Ministry of Works confirmed in an interview with BDSUNDAY in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

The official who did not want his name in print stated that work was delayed on other sections due to “security and environmental challenges”.

The Akwa Ibom section begins at the boundary with Rivers State and spans several kilometres going through Ikot Abasi, Onna, Eket and Oron LGAs of the state.

BDSUNDAY checks show that work has also been completed on sections of the road from Rivers State to Akwa Ibom State and these sections have already been put to use. For instance, the Ikot Abasi section through Eket to Onna LGA has been completed and is being used by motorists and business travellers. These sections were majorly handled by Reynolds Construction Company.

Our findings also show that work on a bridge across the Qua Iboe River in Eket LGA stopped after the major concrete work was done. Contractors have returned to the site of the bridge with their equipment several times but have also pulled out as often without completing the bridge.

It was gathered that a section of the road from Oron, a coastal town in Akwa Ibom State that would link it with Cross River State through a bridge, has yet to commence, though the design for the bridge has been completed.

In the Eket area, part from lack of funds, there was also the issue of the redesign of a section of the road in Eket town due to the number of houses affected in the original design which also caused a considerable delay in the execution of the project.

It was gathered that while the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs insisted on a new design to avoid the payment of compensation to a huge number of property owners affected by the construction of the road, the community insisted that the original plan should be strictly adhered to.

Many had expected that the project would have been completed under Jonathan, a son of the soil. But in view of Jonathan’s exit without completing the project, coupled with declining financial fortunes from oil, many now wonder whether the road would ever be completed. The worst hit seems to be the Oron-Calabar section which is yet to start, even though the NDDC said it was offering palliatives on the Calabar axis pending the full action of the Federal Government. It is also believed that completing the Rivers and Ughelli axis could at least link the road up from Benin to Uyo.

Many who spoke to BDSUNDAY, however, say in order to complete the EWR, there may be need for a probe first of all, which may open another can of worms.