Property owners on 2nd Niger bridge protest non-payment of compensation

Owners of properties within the Right of Way (RoW) corridor leading to  the Second Niger bridge   in Delta State  have  protested in Asaba, the state capital, over non-payment of compensations by  the Federal Government five years after acquisition.

Joined by other aggrieved property owners from  neighbouring Anambra State, the protesters  gave the Federal Government a seven days’ ultimatum to respond to their request, insisting that part of the late Genera Sani Abacha loot recently returned to the country be  judiciously used to compensate them.

They carried placard of various inscriptions such as “Fashola tell Buhari the truth”, “Abacha loot must be used to compensate us”, “Compensation is our rght”, “Diversion is not a solution to the problems”, Five years, have we committed any offence? among others.

The protest which was led by Group-Captain Samuel Akaraiwe (retd), Thomas Adeyemi Agbavobor, Dr. (Mrs) Grossdale Oveido and Uche Onuorah, accused the Minister of Works, Mr.  Babatunde Fashola of blocking them from being compensated by the Federal Government, as they urged President Muhammadu Buhari to wade into the matter.

A petition to President Buhari which was signed by the leaders of the protesters says: “The said acquisition which was made in 2017 or thereabout stringently barred us from entering our properties anymore. We have since waited patiently for the payment of the compensation due us to no avail.

“Recently, we started hearing about plans being made by the Federal Government to officially commission the bridge with a claim by the Minister of Works and Housing, that the project is 95 percent completed and that phase 2A Okwe-Okpanam is left with four kilometres not done due to flooding.

“We left the property and they demolished most of them in the course of construction, they brought compensation form, we filled them and they took our bank details for the payment of compensation.

“The claim by Mr. Fashola is not true as the distance covered during the enumeration and verification of crops and structures is over 17.5 kilometres between Okwe to Okpanam in Delta State while 17. 30 kilometres of Phase 2B from Obosi to Enugu Highway in Anambra State.

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“Some of the property owners are now widows who use their husbands’ gratuities to put up the structures.”

The Federal Government carried out enumeration and valued our property, we went to the Ministry of Works and did all the necessary documentation, not knowing that Fashola has plans not to pay us our right. Now, our properties have been vandalised and acquired by the government without compensation.”

Group Captain Akaraiwe, who is also the Community Liaison Officer for Okwe, lamented the condition of farmers in the community whose land  which also contained fish ponds were taken  for over five years.

Meanwhile, the controller of works in Delta State, Jimoh Moshood disclosed that the issue of compensation is still on course, adding that the entire project has not been completed.