By Egufe Yafugborhi

WARRI—Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, ILoT, has kicked against the contract awarded by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for the dredging of a canal to link Ogheye/Ugbege/Araromi and other neighbouring coastal communities in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State, citing irregularities and associated dangers.

In a letter by its Secretary, Edward Ekpoko, to NDDC, ILoT faulted the project with out conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, while also judging the project as misplaced in relation to pressing needs of  the affected communities.

ILoT  said: “From media reports,  the communities are held together by a fringe of land about 60 metres between the Atlantic and the Benin River, and they are resisting same. Any person or agency contemplating dredging such a canal without an EIA duly carried out, without guaranteeing their safety and security must have a motive other than the development of the communities.

“The canalization/dredging in the absence EIA will just wash off these coastal communities into the sea. What these communities need urgently is a fore-shore protection/reclamation and sand filling to protect them from ocean encroachment. Thereafter, canalization can follow. To do otherwise, as we are now seeing, is like putting the cart before the horse.

“What is the reason for prioritizing this ‘unnecessary’ project, as though the heavens would fall without it? What has NDDC done about the Ugborodo Shoreline Protection Project at N10 bilion awarded since 2004 when a bag of cement was not dropped there, yet the entire contract sum was collected?

“And the Koko Shoreline Protection Project at N3 billion in 2006? No work has been done, but money collected. The Presidential Monitoring Committee on NDDC in 2012 had reported and directed that NDDC should recover the money paid in respect of Ugborodo Shoreline and “recall the contractor to site in case of Koko project.”