National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
By:Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
Four months after the ill-fated bridge joining Elebele community of Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa state with sister communities of the area collapsed, the people of the area have indicted O.K.I Nig.Ltd, a contracting firm with the Nigerian Content Development and monitoring Board, NCDMB.
The community leadership who spoke to our correspondent through their Youth president and Governorship standard bearer of the Peoples Redemption Party,PRP in the last Bayelsa state Governorship polls,Mr Azibola Okala in Yenagoa Friday said that several attempts at bringing OKI to evacuate the overloaded truck which was hauling materials to their construction site in Emeyal 1 community,Ogbia LGA leading to the collapse of the bridge, regretting that the vehicle is still stuck in the River,emphasising that the River is their only source of water.
The Youth leader maintained that with the collapse of the bridge which used to join the densely populated community with Yenagoa, the state capital,commercial activities which were usually on the increase in the area are now at the lowest ebb.
Okala who alleged OKI of having deliberately collapsed the bridge in order to isolate the community from commerce which according to him is their major source of livelihood,saying from the day the bridge collapsed to date, the company has not made any significant attempt at coming to their aide not even during the last flood that sacked part of the community,retreating that but for the collapse,the hitherto healthy bridge would have given them access to Yenagoa and other areas where they would have sought for refuge.
“OKI is not really serious with evacuating this truck. They told us they’ll be coming since.During the flood they came without doing much to evacuate it and left.Now they’ve told us they would be coming next week and just like that.This truck and chippings in it are hazards to this community, they are not even talking of how we could get on with things even if it means constructing a wooden bridge in the interim to enable people move to the other parts of the community let alone constructing a new bridge.” He said.
Our correspondent who visited the site of the collapsed bridge at about 1800hrs Friday evening before filing this report revealed that the no fewer than 16 tyres truck is still left unattended to as other youths who spoke,preferring anonymity say OKI came in at about 1200hrs Friday with an unknown people with no clearification of what they intent doing at the site and zoomed off in two SUVs shortly.
Meanwhile as the management of OKI Nig.ltd continue keeping mute on their alleged destruction of the Elebele bridge which sources say was due to intentional overloading of their hired trucks to fast track the delivery of their job at the Nigerian Oil and gas park,NOGAP under construction by the NCDMB at Emeyal 1, our sources has it that the company management might not be doing anything to alleviating the plight of the community soon.
This stems from a few seconds recording of an aborted interview our sources had with one Mr Christian(other names withheld) reported to be at the echelon of OKI’s management at their Emeyal1 site who is also said of interfacing with Elebele community on the ill-fated bridge.
“OKI will not take responsibility for the collapse of the bridge,we hired the truck that was hauling our chippings from calabar.The fact that we’re about to evacuate the truck from the River shows that we’ve done a lot to ameliorate the plight of the people of Elebele community.” He said.
