If nothing changes at the last minute, a gang of former Ogoni agitators has pledged to shut down the Port Harcourt Refining Company and other international companies in Eleme, Rivers State because of the terrible condition of the East-West Road.
The Indorama Eleme Petro-Chemical Company and the Notorea Fertiliser Company, among others, were among the other businesses in the area that the ex-agitators under the banner of Ogoni Living Martyrs planned to close.
The Federal Government, they claimed, would be forced to start construction on the road as a result of the action. The road led to important national assets like the Nigeria Ports Authority and the Oil and Gas Free Zone, but it had been neglected for decades.
The former agitators claimed that numerous Ogoni people and other Nigerians had died on the roads from regular collisions.
Recall that numerous youth organisations previously organised protests to alert the federal government to the need for road rehabilitation.
Speaking to reporters in Port Harcourt on Sunday, the coordinator of the Ogoni Living Martyrs, Kpuebari Marcus, also stated that they aimed to harm the country’s economy and compel the government to repair the road.
According to him, numerous Ogoni people and other Nigerians have perished on that road. We wish to close the businesses since we are exchanging fewer brothers and sisters.The Ogoni people are not respected by the government. We are aware that closing these businesses will have an impact on the government because they will stop generating revenue for it.
Barinuazor Emmanuel, the president of the National Youth Council of the Ogoni People, declared that the terrible condition of the Eleme stretch of the East-West Road had reached an intolerable point.
“Our only remaining choice is to halt all economic activity, and we are not awaiting anyone’s arrival.
We provided a 14-day ultimatum that expired three weeks ago, therefore we’re about to shut down Indorama, Notorea, NNPC, and all 200 other businesses in Eleme.
The National Assembly Committee on NDDC was the only thing they did. They guaranteed that they would arrive to repair the road before the end of the previous month (August) and that the NNPC would provide the necessary funding. Nothing has been done as of September.
Elder Uncle Mukan, the spokesman for the Ogoni Living Martyrs, also claimed that trucks were colliding with the Eleme part of the East-West route every day, resulting in traffic jams and fatalities, despite the government’s ongoing lip service to the issue.
We won’t stop the road anymore, he declared, because doing so will also put our people through hardship.
