From Jubilation To Betrayal: Delta Community Cries Out As NDDC Road Collapses In One Year
AMUOKPOKPOR-ELUME community in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State is in uproar after a major road project constructed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) collapsed barely a year after completion, leaving residents stranded and economic life in ruins.
The road, which was designed to connect several agrarian communities within the local government, had initially raised hopes when it was flagged off in 2020. Farmers and traders celebrated what they thought would finally ease access to markets and reduce transport costs. But today, the same road has become a death trap, riddled with potholes, erosion gullies, and broken surfaces that now endanger commuters and block agricultural trade routes.
The community’s leadership has now issued a desperate appeal to the NDDC, demanding that the Commission return to site and reconstruct the road to standard. Speaking during a press briefing in Amuokpokpor-Elume, the Community Chairman, Mr. Daniel Ogbodo, flanked by the President General of Elume District, Mr. Felix Emuobonuvie, and community leader, Mr. Olu Majelele, accused the Commission and its contractors of betraying the people’s trust.
“At the inception of the project, the community was filled with jubilation,” Ogbodo said. “But what we have today is worse than what existed before. The road failed after just one year. It is clear that substandard materials were used, the contractor was paid off, and now the community bears the cost of negligence.”
The leaders described the road’s failure as more than an engineering flaw—it is a lifeline severed. With the collapse, women traders can no longer move their produce safely to markets, children face dangerous commutes to school, and the already struggling local economy has been brought to its knees.
They warned that the community’s patience is wearing thin and called for urgent government intervention. “We are not asking for charity,” said Mr. Emuobonuvie. “We are demanding accountability. The NDDC cannot abandon us to a death trap it created.”
For many in Amuokpokpor-Elume, the collapsed road has become a symbol of dashed promises and the all-too-familiar story of failed projects in the Niger Delta—projects celebrated at commissioning ceremonies, only to decay within months due to corruption, incompetence, or indifference.
With tempers rising and livelihoods at stake, residents say the NDDC must act immediately to rebuild the road or face growing unrest from a community that has lost both trust and patience.
