Abavo Community Cries Out Over Abandoned Road Project …Urges FG to Intervene
The people of Abavo community in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State have raised alarm over the abandoned Agbor–Amukpe Road dualisation project, describing it as a death trap and a breeding ground for kidnappers.
Speaking at the Abavo Town Union hall on Friday, the President General of Abavo Clan Union, Mr. Justine Onyeibe, lamented that the 10-year-old project, awarded in 2014, has remained in a deplorable state despite its economic and security importance.
According to him, “The terrible, potholed, single-lane stretches, often reduced to a muddy track during rains, is not just an inconvenience; it is the single greatest enabler of criminal activity in our region. Commuters have become sitting ducks for ambush, while farmers and traders suffer untold hardship.”
Onyeibe recalled that contractors were mobilised between 2015 and 2016 but abandoned the project midway, leaving the community to bear the human and economic cost. He painted a grim picture of wasted agricultural produce—yam, cassava, plantain, and tomatoes—rotting by the roadside because farmers cannot access distant markets.
He stressed that completing the dualisation would be transformative for Abavo: slashing transport costs, attracting agro-investors, creating jobs for the youth, and turning the town into a commercial hub rather than a bypassed community.
“Our message to the Federal Government is simple and clear: eliminate the scourge of kidnapping on this highway by completing its dualisation,” Onyeibe declared.
Also speaking, Chief Joseph Odigie Yusuf, Chief of Staff to the monarch of Abavo Kingdom HRM Obi Uche Irenuma ll urged both Federal and State Governments to urgently intervene. He warned that if the deplorable road is not fixed, the recently approved flyover at Agbor-Uromi junction would amount to a wasted investment.
He lamented that the poor state of the road has endangered residents and motorists, fueling incessant kidnapping incidents in the area.
