Benin City – A group under the aegis of Ugu Youths for Developmental Change (UYDC) in Edo State has accused the Minister for Regional Development, Engr. Abubakar Momoh, of inaugurating a nonexistent road in their locality.
During a protest in Benin City on Monday, the youths condemned the commissioning as a deliberate attempt to mask the long-standing neglect of their communities.
Speaking at the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat, UYDC Coordinator, Monday Osemwenkhae, alleged that the purported Abraka-Oben Road does not exist. He stated that the affected communities—including Urhehue, Oben, Odighi, and Obanokhoro—have suffered years of infrastructural abandonment despite housing West Africa’s largest gas deposit.
“We are here to set the record straight: the so-called Abraka-Oben Road commissioned by the Honourable Minister does not exist anywhere in our locality,” Osemwenkhae declared.
He further criticized the Ministry of Regional Development and its affiliate agencies, particularly the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), for failing to address the region’s infrastructural needs.
“The link roads to Oben—Ugo-Obozogbe-Iguelaba Road and Umoghun-Nokhua-Oben Road—remain in deplorable condition. The former is only being constructed through community efforts and private funding,” he added.
According to the group, Oben’s name has been exploited for financial gain for years, and they called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to correct this pattern rather than allowing the commissioning of a road they insist does not exist.
In response, Engr. Abubakar Momoh dismissed the accusations, clarifying that the commissioned road runs from Abraka in Delta State to Oben in Edo State.
“They should go through Abraka to Oben. We never said Benin to Oben; we said Abraka to Oben—from the Delta end. That needs to be understood clearly,” the minister stated.
He further explained that previous work had been carried out on the Benin-to-Oben section, covering a distance of 20 kilometers, while the newly commissioned segment was a 10-kilometer stretch linking Abraka and Oben.
Despite the minister’s clarification, the protesting youths maintain their stance, demanding transparency and tangible infrastructural development in the region.
Comments