By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – THE people of Gelegele inOvia North East local government of Edo State has appealed to the Governor Monday Okebholo administration to continue the process of building a seaport in the area which was treated by the government of Godwin Obaseki saying its realization would be a huge socio-economic boost to the area and the state.

Besides, the people are also lamenting and lack of development in the area just as they lamented the cutting off of dozens of Ijaw communities because of the abandonment of the Udo-Ufunoma-Enikura-Gwilebu road project which they said started and abandoned over 11 years ago by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Speaking at a breakfast meeting with selected journalists in Benin City, the Chairman, Gelegele Executive Council, Omaghomi Olu-Derimon said the seaport is expected to accommodate one million, Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) container capacity annually, which was expected to grow to about 2.7 million and 4.5 million TEUs with time because of its proximity to Lekki deep seaport.

He said “When completed, expect that it will be the busiest Agro shipping port in Africa. It is expected that the project construction will influence the generation of up to about 10,000 direct and indirect new jobs in the Edo economy,” he stated.

Olu-Derimon commended Okpebholo for hitting the ground running since assumption of office on November 12, 2024, and for continuing the execution of some projects initiated by Obaseki.

On the abandoned road and other projects by the NDDC, the community leader called out the interventionist agency for leaving out oil producing communities, particularly Gelegele, from its several intervention projects.

He noted that it is most regrettable that the communities that lay the “golden egg” were being neglected in favour of those without crude oil. “I think the NDDC has not actually met its major target, its major aim of developing, or in the overall development of the Niger Delta or of the South-South states because if you compare the amount of money that has come into this region via NDDC, I think the gap is just too wide.

“That abandoned road is a gateway to the Riverine communities from Ovia to the West, and over 100 communities have been negatively impacted with its non completion.”

Olu-Derimon also lamented that Ijaw communities in Edo state have been relegated in terms of development by the successive government of the state.

He particularly bemoaned that state of the only secondary school in Gelegele Community and appealed for the government’s immediate attention.

He further regretted that the future of their children had become a subject of debate because of the absence of good educational facilities as well as teaching staff in the areas inhabited by the Ijaws.

He pointed out that several appeals have been made to governments in the past without any tangible intervention.