EDO – Angry youths from 14 communities in Ovia North East Local Government Area staged a protest and locked the offices of the Niger Delta Development Commission in the state.
Staff members of the NDDC were reportedly detained in their offices for several hours on Thursday, April 10, 2014 before the doors were opened.
The youths’ grouse was an abandoned rural electrification project by the NDDC to electrify their communities
The Nation reports:
It was learnt that the electricity project was awarded 10 years ago.
They said they took to the streets because they have waited for so long for their communities to be connected to thenational grid.
Some of the communities are oil producing communities in the local government.
The youths said they came to seal NDDC office in Benin City after the expiration of a two weeks ultimatum given to the NDDC to complete the project.
Leader of the protesters, Omaghomi Olu-Derimon, said communities such as Gelegele, Ikpoko,Eghudu,Evborokho,
According to him, “Oduna ward is historically linked to the famous 1897 Benin invasion where you will find the tomb of Captain James Philip and the wreckage of the boat which the whites used to enter the Benin Kingdom, without controversy, Oduna ward played host to the first indigenous oil company in Nigeria, Dubril Oil Company Limited with several oil wells.”
“If there is not light, there will be no peace for NDDC. We are prepared to sleep in this NDDC office until the electricity is fixed. Many of the poles have fallen off and we are tired.”
A senior staff of NDDC, Mr. Johnson Ikhinmwin pleaded with the protesters to give the commission three months to complete the project.
He promised to take the protesters to NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt if the project was not fixed within three months.
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