By Austin Ogwuda
THE commissioning of the Second Niger bridge has come and gone but hundreds of persons are groaning following the failure of the federal government to pay them compensation, six years after the acquisition of their landed property.
The acquisition was to pave way for creating the Right of Way.
Already the bridge had been commissioned without creating the access road to connect it from the Asaba axis, another phase still pending.
One of the affected land owners whose potion of land was acquired at Okwe spoke to The Town Hall Media yesterday on condition of anonymity.
Said he, “we are appealing to the new President, Bola Tinubu to kindly revisit the issue as quickly as possible.
“We are aware that the incumbent president is settling down but we are appealing to him to revisit the matter as government is continu.
“We have cried, we have protested before the exit of the former administration yet no payment”.
He confided in The Town Hall that “I decided to be anonymous because a cousin of mine has asked me to wait till Tibubu forms his cabinet as he is likely to be closer to the corridors of power when formed by God’s grace.
He further told me that “street protests at times are counter productive as most approvals are actualized when politicians locked themselves in board room and it depends on who you know, underground work, lobbying”.
Recall that on the 1st of December last year at the twilight of Buhari’s administration, hundreds of people that the federal government acquired their lands for the purpose of creating the Right of Way (ROW) for the Second Niger
bridge staged a massive protest.
The protesters drawn from Delta State and Anambra State had protested along Okpanam road accusing the former Minister of Works as responsible for their plight.
Led by a retired Group Captain Samuel Akaraiwe, Mrs Grossdale Oveido among others, the protesters carried placards with different inscriptions: “compensation is our right”, We have waited for 5 years no payment”, among others.
According to the protesters “five years ago, Federal Government came and acquired our property for the construction of Second Niger Bridge and promised payment of compensation, but till date nothing good has been done.
“We left the property for them and they demolished most of them in the course of construction, they brought compensation form, we filled and they took our bank details for the payment of compensation”, stated Mrs. Grossdale Oveido, one of the spokespersons of the protesters.
The protesters expressed regret that in spite of numerous letters and visits to the Ministry of Works no dice yet.