July 5, 2021

The Governor recalled how he made a promise during his 2014 campaign visit to Opobo kingdom. He paid glowing tribute to Dr. Peter Odili for conceiving the Unity Road project, stressing that without the foresight of Dr. Odili, it would have been difficult for his administration to complete the Opobo axis of the Ogoni-Opobo-Andoni Unity Road

A good 150 years is a century and a half. That’s how long the people of Opobo Kingdom in Rivers State had to wait to get a road course from other parts of the state to their historic town. A jinx. A hoodoo. And it took Governor Nyesom Wike to break that jinx.

At the weekend, the state played host to a concourse of humanity who came to witness the inauguration of a super-highway, a piece of modern architecture and a specimen of construction mastery which consumed money in billions of naira, materials costing billions of naira and tasked the skills and intelligence of men.

The commissioning of the Opobo axis of the Andoni-Opobo-Ogoni unity road was in fulfilment of a campaign promise made to the people of Opobo by Governor Wike.

Initiated by a former Governor of the state, Dr. Peter Odili, it remained a dream until Wike took the challenge to conquer the swamps and marshland where a good part of the road traversed to link the Island of Opobo to the rest of the state.

The road has a minimum fill height of 2 meters, with a maximum height of 8 meters at some points.  The 11.15 km long and 7.3m wide road was built through swamps and some of the most difficult terrains for road construction. It has a 1.5m wide shoulder on either side. It has 18 culverts and 5 bridges with a shoulder of 1.5 m on either side.

The Special Guest at the commissioning was Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, former Minister of state for Agriculture and one time Minister of Police Affairs and member PDP Board of Trustees. Waziri was the man at the epicentre of history. Standing with Wike and other dignitaries, a pair of scissors in hand, the PDP BOT Trustee may not fully understand the import and symbolism of that little pair of scissors. As he cut the tape to formally declare the road open for public use, he also cut the cord that has tethered Opobo kingdom to development stasis.

The road serves multiple communities aside being a direct link to Opobo main town. The natives thronged the road and cheered the Governor with chants like ‘Mr. Projects’ as he drove into the area.

The elated governor told the crowd of Opobo, Nkoro, Ogoni and Andoni indigenes at Opobo New Layout that the completion of the road and its inauguration was a manifestation of his promise and a dream come true for the people and for his administration.

The Governor recalled how he made a promise during his 2014 campaign visit to Opobo kingdom. He paid glowing tribute to Dr. Peter Odili for conceiving the Unity Road project, stressing that without the foresight of Dr. Odili, it would have been difficult for his administration to complete the Opobo axis of the Ogoni-Opobo-Andoni Unity Road.

Wike did not sign off with the road project. He was determined to push back the water frontiers just so the Opobo people would have more land to engage in other development matters. Pronto, he directed his Special Adviser of Special Projects to liaise with the King and leaders of Opobo to determine where they desired a new land to be sand-filled and reclaimed for them by the state government.

He also directed the Surveyor-General to commence the process of land-mapping and survey of the already sand filled land in the area to enable the people of Opobo begin allocation of spaces to themselves for development.

The road project was a beauty to behold, a promise kept and a signature of a leader who has shown uncommon commitment to the development of his state.

Waziri while commissioning the project described the road as a critical need of the Opobo people, stressing that the Governor had brought humaneness to governance.

He described Wike as an uncommon Governor, who was providing the country an indispensable ingredient of democracy to promote nation-building. Much more, he saw in Wike a strong opposition voice that cannot be silenced.

“There are certain dividends (respects) that ordinarily have come to Governor Wike because he has earned them. But Governor Wike is not a governor for Rivers alone; he is an uncommon governor in the PDP. He is giving the Nigeria polity the indispensable ingredient of democracy. And that is, for democracy to thrive, to be useful, for it to flourish, democracy must promote nation-building.”

The crowd could not agree less as they kept cheering the governor for wiping away their tears of over 150 years.

King Dandeson Douglas Jaja, the ruler of Opobo, said the people of his kingdom would remain eternally grateful to the governor for the human face he had brought to governance. He also appealed to the governor to initiate another land reclamation project in Opobo.

Rivers Commissioner for Works, Elloka Tasie-Amadi gave a deeper insight and technical update on the road which he said snaked through mangroves and swamps.

He said: “Due to terrain peculiarities we have an average fill height of 4m, the least fill height being 2m, a height that qualifies me as a short man, and some fill heights as much as 8m high, taller than a storey building. It has 2 layers of Asphalt, a binder course of 6cm and a wearing course of 4cm, all together 10cm.”

The Opobo road miracle came months after the governor invited the world to a rash of inaugurations of major infrastructure in the state. The roll call:

The Okoro-Nu-Odo Flyover was commissioned on March 1, 2021 by the former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke.

Rumuogba 1 and 2 Flyover commissioned on Tuesday, March 2 by the former Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.

Wednesday, March 3 was the turn of GRA Phase 2 Roads( Tombia Crescent, Opobo Crescent and Isaiah Odolu Street) commissioned  by the former Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema.

The former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, was not left out as he was Special Guest of Honour on Thursday, March 4 to commission the new Government House Clinic/Press.

Earlier that same day, the contract for the two new flyovers at Ikwerre Road/Olu-Obasanjo(Ikokwu) and Aba Road/Rumukalagbor( Waterlines) Junctions was signed with Julius Berger.

On Friday, March 5, the Ikwerre Road/Olu Obasanjo (Ikokwu) Flyover was flagged off by Chief Dan Orbih, the South-South Zonal Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

And just last month was the commissioning of a 132-bed Mother and Child specialist hospital in the state by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire.

The hospital which has an on-site quarters for doctors is furnished and fully equipped with 50 delivery rooms, six modular operating theatres, in-vitro fertilization equipment, fluoroscopic equipment, mammography equipment, among others to bolster precision and time-critical pediatric and gynaecological practice.

What amazes the most was that these projects were undertaken in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic which provided a fitting alibi for many governors to do nothing. Nigeria needs infrastructure and Wike is providing it for his state in quantum measure.

Author: Ken Ugbechie