THE Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom, King Monday Whiskey, the Udurhie I, has urged the Federal Government to engage more contractors to fix the deplorable roads in the Niger Delta.
The traditional ruler told journalists in Idjerhe, Ethiope West Local Government of Delta State that only one or two contractors could not fix the road from Benin to Calabar.
According to the royal father, now that the dry season is here, it will be better to engage more contractors to fix the roads before the rains come.
“The job should be awarded to multiple contractors, and none should get less than 50 kilometres.
“The dry season is setting in and the government needs to take advantage of it and maintain the roads from Benin to Calabar.
“Government should, as a matter of urgent policy, redirect the contract for the maintenance of roads in the Niger Delta. “No contractor should get less than a 50-kilometer section. You cannot put one contractor from Benin to Calabar, it is not possible.
“Two contractors cannot do it, three can’t even do it.
“Let us mobilise more contractors to the road so that before the rainy season comes, the roads will be fixed,” he said.
The king decried the man-hour lost by travellers on Niger Delta roads.
‘You can spend an average of three hours to move from Idjerhe kingdom to Warri by road while Benin to Calabar takes approximately two days. “We need to redesign our priorities. Road is one of the essential priorities of any government,” he said.
Whiskey appealed to President Bola Tinubu to prioritise the development of the Niger Delta.
