Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has promised to start work immediately on the collapsing bridge linking Okrika in Okrika Local Government and Dere communities in Gokana Local Council of Rivers State, to save it from total collapse.
The Acting Managing Director, Dr. Joi Nunieh, gave the assurance yesterday when she visited the K-Dere and B-Dere communities on inspection of the dilapidated bridge, noting that the commission would quickly assess the problem to start work on re-enforcement of the bridge.
Nunieh said that NDDC would not delay on the project to avoid a total collapse of the bridge.
Accompanied by some top management staff of NDDC, Nunieh expressed shock at the deplorable state of the bridge, which she noted connected two councils in the state and ran across an estuary. She said the commission was alerted about the poor state of the bridge by concerned elders of Ogoni and Okrika and decided to respond, as it was a core NDDC mandate to intervene on infrastructure in the Niger Delta.
“This needs an emergency intervention. It is very interesting that the bridge is at the spot where salt water and fresh water meet. The bridge stands at a historic point, so we must work to save the bridge and by so doing, reserve its historic importance,” the NDDC boss stated.
She also visited a polluted area on the Dere River where she lamented the damage done to the environment and aquatic life. She tasked Gokana leaders to intervene by calling youths in the area to end the continued damage to the environment through illegal oil bunkering.
Earlier, the chairman of Dere Council of Chiefs, Bornu Godswill, had said that the people were grateful to the NDDC for its prompt response to their ‘Save Our Soul’ message.
He said people of the surrounding councils were pleading for NDDC’s immediate intervention to save the bridge from collapse.
