Bayelsa Waste Contractor Convert Road to Dump Site, Groups Allege

Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

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

The heap of refuse which is blocking the road that links some of the communities in Gbarain is being carried out by  a waste management contractor who allegedly converted the road to its dump site.

THISDAY learnt that the said road constructed by Shell Petroleum and

Development Company (SPDC) had been serving as access road linking communities such as Nedugo, Agbia, Ogboloma, Okolobiri and others to Yenagoa through the Etegwe-Amassoma expressway.

 According to THISDAY checks, Shell constructed the road some decades ago to link its Etelebu Gas Plant located behind Ogboloma community, and had since then been serving as an important access
road to the adjoining communities.

However, a visit to the road by THISDAY showed that the road has been totally blocked by heaps of refuse deposited on it by refuse evacuators allegedly engaged by the state government.

Worried by the blockage of the access road, 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.

It was gathered that Amatu’s job was allegedly threatened by the powers that be for daring to challenge or obstruct the contractor from continuously dumping refuse on the road.

One major significance of the road, according to the locals, is that it saves people who are 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 of emergency.

Speaking to THISDAY 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 constructed by Shell was being destroyed in a time the state is in need of road infrastructure.

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

“As we speak, our parents’ farm work and economic activities have been jeopardised by the blockage of this quick and easy access road for the transportation of their farm products, thereby subjecting them to hardship.”

He recounted that the road had been in that deplorable condition for more than seven years, calling on the state Governor, Douye Diri to urgently intervene to prove the prosperity mantra of the present administration.

Also expressing his anger over the situation, the Secretary of MOSIEND in Gbarain clan, Obed Gigi, narrated that “this road was constructed by SPDC to give us easy access from our clan to Yenagoa. But now the road has been covered and messed up by these refuse dumps.

“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.

“Also, the offensive odour oozing out from the dump site is posing serious health threat to our people. We are calling on the state government to come and clear this road and designate a particular place for refuse dump.

An opinion leader and native of Ogboloma community, Elder Madu Gigi, also condemned the condition of the road, adding that since the blockade of the road, Shell had withdrawn its maintenance culture on the road since the oil and gas giant no longer uses the road which was constructed in the early 90s.