Residents of Jonathan’s village beg Dickson to repair road

Residents of Otuoke, the hometown of former President Goodluck Jonathan, have appealed to the administration of Seriake Dickson, governor of Bayelsa state, to repair the Otuoke-Onuebum road which is in a deplorable condition.

The residents made the appeal in separate interviews with NAN.

Ologi Damiete, a staff of the Federal University, Otuoke (FUO), said vehicles now found it difficult to pass through the road, which had become worse since the last rainy season.

“The condition of this road has become worse since the flood that submerged the whole community and there has not been any preventive measure to forestall future occurrence,” he said.

“We are expecting the government to put necessary measures in place to guard against future occurrence.

“Students of FUO have resumed for the new semester and they have been finding it difficult moving in and out of the community.

“I am calling on all the relevant authorities to look into the matter because it has become unbearable. Our vehicles have been damaged because of the road.”

Another resident, Oweifa Debekeme, urged the state government to make more efforts toward checking flooding.

He said the people were suffering and government had the responsibility to alleviate their agony by providing roads and other infrastructure.

Babatunde Adeola, a taxi driver plying the road, said it was in a bad shape before the flood destroyed it completely.

Adeola called on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to also help repair the road to alleviate the plight of the people.

He said the youths in the communities now help by sand-filling the bad portions on regular basis, adding that “commercial drivers now pay them for that”.