E DICIONES DEL O RLANDO ENAMORADO : EJEMPLARES CONSULTADOS Y EJEMPLARES CONSERVADOS

Most parts of the Niger Delta region, particularly the coastal barrier islands, and mangrove swamp zones are yet to be linked up by roads, including fairly large settlements such as Bonny, Brass, Ogulagha and Escravos (Oguara, 2002; Ibaba, 2012). According to Ibaba (2012), there are no roads linking these areas to other zones, with communities in this zone linked to each other and to other zones through a network of waterways. Thus, the only available means of cargo and passenger transportation in some communities are by dugout canoes, motorized outboard and inboard engine boats, which are inadequate as shown in Figure 2.13.

Figure 2.13: Transportation in the Niger Delta (Source: Niger Delta Home Page, 2014)

In Port Harcourt and Yenegoa, the administrative headquarters of Rivers and Bayelsa states respectively, which are the largest settlements in the lowland rainforest zone, movement of people and goods is mainly by road transport, though in most parts of the zone, the road network is in a poor state of disrepair (Abam et al., 2005). In the recent past, the only trans-regional road, the East-West road that passes through the region, has being described as a death trap due to the advanced level of failure of the road (Emujakporu, 2012). This has constituted a concern to all stakeholders in the usage.

Inter-settlement movements in the riverine areas of these states have also been severely restricted due to the near total absence of inter-town links. The few available roads are those within the towns and villages, a situation which has being frequently attributed to the terrain of these areas. Several authors have inferred that this is the fundamental factor which makes the development of land-based transportation difficult and which has also largely resulted in the several failed projects in the region. (Fashaye, 1992; Oguara, 2002; Ossai, 2012). According to Ossai (2012:87):

“The existence of roads which is taken for granted in some parts of the country is a luxury to the people of the predominantly riverine Niger Delta, which has the least kilometres of roads in the federation. A development blamed on the several abandoned government road projects in the state due to the developmental constraints posed by the difficult terrain”. This issue of road infrastructure backlog is at the forefront of the current violent agitations in the Niger Delta, which has been publicised in the local and international media (BBC, 2016). Attempts via road networking by the various state and regional highway agencies, are thus being concurrently executed in these zones. Plans have been reported to be currently underway for the construction of new inter-city and inter-state highways including access roads to link communities as well as the rehabilitation and upgrading of older roads (NDDC, 2016). Some of these abandoned road projects as earlier accounted for in the report by the NDES (1993), and which are currently being revived in the state include:

 The Ogbia-Nembe road project, which is now being undertaken in a collaborative effort between the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company SPDC and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC);

 The Sagbama-Ekeremor-Agge road project, which was being handled by the NDDC but was later taken over by the Bayelsa State government following the abandonment by construction firm;

 The long abandoned Yenagoa- Oporoma road project passing through the vast mangrove stretch of Southern Ijaw council area is also another major road project which has being revived at the cost of N31 billion (NDDC, 2013).

Also, other new road networks designed to link communities in the hinterland by land are proposed to be initiated (NDDC, 2016). Yenagoa the capital of Bayelsa state has being recently described as ‘a significant construction yard’, due to the flurry of ongoing construction works, as new layouts are being opened up, and wider roads being constructed. Some of the planned and yet to be constructed roads include the 46.20km Baen-Kpean-Ngo-Bonny Road in Rivers State and 65.3km Yenegwe-Kolo-Nembe-Brass road in Bayelsa State which had been delayed for a prolonged time. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has commenced the construction of several road projects in the region. Rehabilitation and dualisation of the 337km East-West Road in currently on-going, with plans for the construction of a 731km Niger Delta Coastal road being proposed to link all the states in the NDRMP, by the Ministry of Niger Delta, as shown in Figure 2.14.

Figure 2.14: Proposed Intra-Regional Road Network in the Niger Delta

(Source: MND Homepage, 2015) It is therefore evident from the local literature, that most of the communities in the Niger Delta region are yet to be linked up by roads, which reflects the significant investment capital which will be required to open up the Niger Delta region. The need to adequately and judiciously manage future investments on road development in the region is thus evident. Equally, the basic underlying factors responsible for the past trend, of rather alarming rate of project delays and abandonment, need to be identified, if history is not to repeat itself in this new epoch of developmental effort taking place in the region.