By Emma Amaize

ASK any security officer on duty in the twin cities of Warri and Effurun in Delta State about Enerhen Junction, Effurun, and he would tell you that it is one of the black spots in the state.  However, the situation ceased when Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan dreamed what he called a junction improvement project and turned the ‘criminal -breeding ground’ to a tourist haven.

For six years that Uduaghan has been governor and chief security officer of Delta, it was as if  intelligence reports on the notoriety of the Enerhen Junction fell on deaf ears.  So, some months ago when the residents and traders saw bulldozers working on the junction and the adjoining Enerhen Road and Enerhen Motel Junction, they wondered what “Uduaghan people” were up to.

Some people said, “They have come to spoil the road”, while others adopted `wait and see’ attitude.

By the time the governor finished the project, which is part of his urban renewal strategy, Enerhen Junction, in the words of a 45-year tricycle operator in Warri, Mr. Andrew Omonigho, “has turned to small London.”

An Effurun resident, Mr. Titus Orido, told Sunday Vanguard, “A woman, residing around the Enerhen Junction area, but had been away in the village for nine months, returned a month to the commissioning of the project by Governor Uduaghan, September 28, and refused to disembark at the junction when the bus driver asked her to come down.

“Her contention was that she was yet to get to Enerhen Junction, which she told the driver she was going to and the driver should take her to Enerhen Junction. The place has considerably changed in her eyes and that is the marvel of everybody in Warri and Effurun today”.

Uduaghan, who takes pride these days in his ‘finishing strong’ mantra, confirmed that Enerhen Junction was once a  breeding ground for criminals before the state government approved the execution of junction improvement works in 12 junctions/road intersections in Asaba and Warri/Effurun metropolis at a cost of N3.1 billion.

An elated Ovie of Uwvie Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Emmanuel Sideso, his chiefs, subjects and traders, thronged Enerhen Junction for the commissioning ceremony of the project. Speaking before the project was commissioned, Uduaghan stated, “Initially, there were doubts as to what we want to do with Enerhen junction, but the simple truth is that we have embarked on urban renewal in Warri, Effurun , Asaba and other cities because we do not want the world to leave us behind.

“For most of us who know Enerhen Junction before, we know it was a breeding place for pickpockets and other criminals and, besides the traffic obstruction it created, it also posed a serious security challenge, but we took all the factors into consideration in transforming the place and criminal activities will be checked with the way we constructed the junction”.

The state Commissioner for Special Duties, Special Infrastructure, Dame Orezi Esievo, in an address, said, “The main objective of the works was to decongest the selected junctions and to promote free flow of traffic in them thereby, enhancing economic and social activities in both cities.”