A Typicel Road Seen in Streets of Kwale
By Juliet Ogbodu
KWALE/Nigeria: Anyone passing along the streets of Kwale in Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State cannot help but wonder why a community so naturally endowed with mineral resources will suffer from bad roads. Apart from a scanty number of side streets which sometimes lead to nowhere meaningful, one can hardly see any good road in this town.
The major and most central road of the town which starts from eke market square down to Umusadege quarters is a sorry sight to behold. Pot holes occupy very sensitive positions in the middle of the road as if telling commuters ‘we have come to stay’.
From Umusam road to Isumpe road, down to Alama-Ossai and Apa Street, then to Utagba-Uno street, the story is the same. Kwale is a town not known for experiencing traffic jams. But these bad roads have made it inevitable for commuters to slow down at the points where the pot holes are so deep, thereby causing traffic jams. Vehicles sometimes break down at the middle of the road with the resultant effect of other road users finding movement very difficult.
Pool of Water Occupying a particular Road in Kwale.
And to think that this is a community which hosts about five or six oil companies. Nigeria Agip Oil Company, Midwestern Oil and Gas, Sterling Global, Energia, Platform, Pillar Oil and Next Oil are all examples of oil companies whose either residential or operational base is in Kwale. The big question then is ‘what is with the social responsibities these companies owe their host community?’
A large percentage of residents of the town we spoke to were of the view that disunity among the various quarters which make up the town is the major reason why things cannot move forward. According to them, there is no unity of purpose when it comes to community projects. The average Umusadege man believes that every project coming from Midwestern Oil should be sited at Umusadege. The average Umuseti man believes that any project from Pillar Oil must be sited at Umuseti. When the road is not directly linked to a particular quarter, no one shows serious concern.
The poor state of the roads in town is a serious indictment of all the community leaders of Kwale, whether political or otherwise. Heads need to be put together to take care of this situation so that people can carry out economic activities with relative ease.
