The Ogoni Youth Federation (OYF), umbrella body of Ogoni youths has criticized the contractors handling the construction of the Bori-Kono road, the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for jettisoning the Bill of Quality, Rivers State specifications and executing a substandard job.
The President-General of OYF, Legborsi Yamaabana, who made this known today after a follow-up visit to the office of CCECC, said the visit was prompted by series of complaints from members of the community close to the site who wept over the shabby construction and loss of their farm produce to flooding whenever it rains due to the ongoing construction and the findings of OYF fact finding visit to the Bori-Kono road on 5th December, 2021.
The Ogoni youths boss, noted that the road being constructed has no drainage system on both sides and as a result, whenever it rains, the entire communities along the road are usually submerged in flood and crops destroyed, thereby leaving the Ogoni people in untold hardship.
He went further to query the rationale behind CCECC to cut corners and jettison the Bill of Quality for the road, inorder to make more profit at the detriment of the people. They deliberately, for reasons best known to the company, failed to excavate the top soil and replace same with sharp sand on one lane of the road, before the application of stone based, bitumen and asphate as practiced globally. They are using red mud on the said lane instead of sharp sand, amongst other sharp practices. This is not acceptable to Ogoni youths.
The project manager of the Chinese Civil Engineering Corporation who received the delegation declined to comment on the issues and referred the youth to the State Ministry of Works for answers, insisting that the Rivers State Ministry of works should be held responsible for poor construction and not the CCECC.
Upon arrival from the botched meeting with the CCECC site Manager, the President-General of Ogoni Youth Federation met the Ogoni Association of Persons Living With Disabilities at the gate of the firm protesting against CCECC over non-compliance with Corporate Social Responsibility. The youth leader addressed the protesters and promised to stand in solidarity with them on their demand.
OYF once more enjoined Ogoni Youths to stay calm in the face of this wanton provocation, as we promise to explore other channels to win the sabotage by CCECC and their institutional collaborators.
Lene Kingsley Lekue, Esq
Publicity Secretary, OYF
6th December, 2021
