Flood: Ughelli Residents Cry For Help, Seek Delta, NDDC Intervention

By Balogun Mabamije

As the rainy season is fast approaching, residents of Ugwhe Quarters, Otovwodo-Ughelli, in Ughelli North Local Government Area of the Delta State are being apprehensive of the havoc the rains may wreck on the area due to the abandoned road project allegedly awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) some years ago.

Speaking to newsman on the danger of the abandoned road project to residents of the area, the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), Ughelli North Chapter, Apostle Charles Okpacha, disclosed that the road was allegedly awarded to an unknown contractor by NDDC over two years ago.

According to him, the contractor did not erect any sign post but just told them that the project was awarded to him and began excavation work two years ago but was abandoned, saying that the condition of the road had become worse.

“A self acclaimed contractor whom we do not know came to us about two years ago that our road was awarded to him by NDDC. Few days later we saw escalation work going on. After that we did not see him again. He didn’t erect any sign post on the street.

“If you look at the road and what is happening to us is terrible and now that the flood is coming again, we are full of fear.

“We are appealing to the Delta State Government to come and help us from this danger and if NDDC actually awarded the contract, the commission should help us to prevail on the contractor to come back to site,” he said.

The chairman of the area, Pastor Michael Onomuodeke, said the area now look like swamp, saying that with the escavation carried out by the contractor, most houses were beginning to sink due to the flooding.

He disclosed that tenants who packed to the area during dry season were made to packed out after the rainy season while some who could not endure were forced to abandon their rents before the end of the rainy season, stressing that it sometimes resulted in litigation and crisis.

One of the landlords, Comrade Believe Eyamunu, said that the continuous flooding had caused so much health hazard to residents of the area, just as he noted that the pool of water had become breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Comrade Eyamunu, while appealing to Delta State Government and NDDC to construct a drainage on the road to serve as interim measure, said Ugwhe Quarters had been marked a-no-go area by prospective tenants.