Hundreds of youths from Ovia North-east Local Government Area in Edo state yesterday handed out a two-week ultimatum to authorities of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to complete the Gelegele/Ekemwan 33kv electrification project.
This was just as the group called on the federal government to urgently ratify the appointment of Edo state representative of the commission, adding that “this is hampering development in our area.”
Spokesman for the group, Oduna Wark Youth Congress, Mr. Omaghomi Olu-Derimon, gave the warning during a protest march to the NDDC office in Benin City, the Edo state capital.
He vowed that the group would block all federal roads in the state if their demands were not meant at the expiration of the ultimatum.
Derimon lamented that the electricity project which the Commission flagged off in 2004 was yet to be completed, 10 years after.
He said: “We are oil producing communities. And this electricity project was supposed to serve 11 villages in our area; but we are suspecting that this project has been abandoned.
“And I can tell you authoritatively that checks at the NDDC record showed that they have completed and commissioned this electricity project.”
Reacting to the development, a senior staff of the commission, Mr. Johnson Ikimi, denied that the Commission had abandoned the project even as he attributed the delay in completion to paucity of funds.
