A former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, has attributed the non-completion of the East-West road to epileptic release of funds as well as the peculiar nature of the Niger Delta terrain.
Orubebe, who disclosed this in Asaba through the Director of Media and Publicity of Delta Peoples Forum (DPF), Alex Ikpeazu, also blamed the National Assembly for its bureaucratic procedures.
He, therefore, said the project might not be completed by December, this year, as earlier anticipated.
He said the East-West Road project was at the realm of speculation by the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo without technical design and funding, adding that he supervised its execution from zero to over 70 per cent completion.
Ikpeazu said: “Orubebe is not a magician, he has his style, and he is passionate. The project has gone far. The job may not even finish this year as fund has not been released even when the rain is setting in.
The job was like a joke. Obasanjo released one billion from over 30 billion naira project. Instead of fighting the National Assembly he went for fund, not wanting to make it unnecessary cry.”
He said the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Niger Delta Affairs had confirmed that the ministry was acutely underfunded, while the supervising Minister, Mr. Ishaku Darius, also lamented the inadequate funding of the project, saying that it might not be completed in December 2014, as anticipated.
