Atiku praises Okowa for taking on FG’s projects

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has praised his running mate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, for starting the project which he says is the responsibility of the federal government.

Abubakar gave the honorable mention during the inauguration of the 480-metre flyover at the popular Koka interchange on the Asaba-Benin highway.

He said: “If you look in the books, you will see that this Benin-Asaba highway is a federal road, but the state government has taken over the construction of this project because it is closer to the people of Delta State.

“We borrowed our presidential system from the United States and in the United States the only federal roads you find are interstate roads connecting one state to another. Other internal roads, bridges and highways are the responsibility of state governments

“It is understandable because it is the military that spawned our own presidential system of government and you know how they accumulate too much power for themselves at the expense of the federations.

“I believe that by the time we make a fundamental change to our constitution to restore autonomy to the states and local government areas in terms of resources, we would have removed this huge bottleneck that has hampered and otherwise hindered our growth infrastructure . ‘ said Abubakar.

He commended Okowa and the Delta State government for taking the initiative for restructuring before it was constitutionally permitted, and said: “Congratulations to Governor Okowa on this tremendous development you have undertaken for the benefit of the people of Delta State and Nigerians in generally who are committed this road daily.”

In his remarks, Okowa said that the project was conceived and delivered by his administration to provide a solution to the traffic jam on the Benin-Asaba highway and expressed his optimism that after completion of the dualization of the Ughelli-Asaba highway road traffic on the Koka corridor would be completely eliminated.

It is remembered that it took the Chinese firm 17 months for the multibillion naira flyover and interchange project to be completed.

With the completion of the project, years of traffic jams from motorists and pedestrians have finally come to an end.

The Nigerian Tribune heard that motorists from Warri, Ughelli, Ndokwa, Isoko, ijaw communities from Delta and others from Bayelsa State, traveling to Asaba via the Ughelli-Ogwashi Uku-Asaba dual carriageway, had reason to get stuck in traffic at the Koka interchange where the road joins the Benin-Asaba-Onitsha highway.

The Nigerian Tribune further learned that while construction of the project continued, it remained hectic for traders, especially those going to Onitsha, workers, business people, students, among others coming from Ibusa road (towards Ughelli-Asaba) and commuters from Asaba to the opposite direction.

As a result, the state government, in its effort to bring sanity to the ashes, decided to beautify the area in 2020 by creating gardens, creating a relaxation area and mapping spaces for vehicles.

Unfortunately, crooks burned down all the facilities during the EndSARS crisis.

The project is the third in the state and the second in Asaba upon completion, according to the sources of the Nigerian Tribune, as it stands out as one of the major projects being carried out by the government under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in the state. The first and second viaducts were carried out by former governor Emmanuel Uduaghan at Effurun in Uvwie, near Warri and InterBau in Asaba.

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