Youths call off 7-day protest, vacate East-West Road

From Victor Edozie, Port Harcourt

Hundreds of youths from Eleme and other communities in Rivers State, who had blocked a section of the EastWest Road in the state for seven days, have called off the protest and vacated the road.

The youths had, on Monday last week, barricaded the long stretch of the road to protest its deplorable condition.

Commuters plying the road were stranded as the angry youths protested the failure of the federal government to fix the road, which they said, has become a nightmare for the users.

While the protest lasted, commuters were compelled to get off their various vehicles carried their belongings on their heads and trekked to their destinations.

The youths

suspended

the demonstration following the assurance of Eleme Local Government Chairman, Obarilomate Ollor, that the contractor handling the project has been mobilised to the site.

Ollor, who spoke to reporters at Trailer Park, Ejamah, Ebubu Eleme said the decision to suspend the protest was taken after a painstaking consideration of a number of factors, which included the need to allow work commence on the road, the suffering the people as well as the collapse of business activities in the area.

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, last Thursday, said the federal government had released N2.5billion to the contractor to move to site, while efforts would be intensified to source the N85 billion needed to complete the project from the Sovereign Wealth Fund.