The Minister of Niger Delta Development, Abubakar Momoh, has expressed concern over the conditions of most roads in the Niger Delta Road region.

Momoh said he is already talking to the Minister of Works over the disturbing situation.

The minister spoke at the weekend during a reception organised for the Minister by Afemai traditional rulers at the palace of the Otaru of Auchi.

He said there are no good roads in the region.

He narrated how he spent over four hours during his tour of the region on a trip that ordinarily should not take more than two hours.

He said: “Myself and the minister of works have been fighting seriously and the basis of our fight is the East-West Road. The road from Warri to Eket, the major road that links the Niger Delta is yet to be completed.”

He, therefore, reiterated his call to the minister of Work, David Umahi to return the East-West road to the Ministry of Niger Delta, saying “Return the road back to Ministry of Niger Delta and vote money for us so that we can complete it within a short time.”

He added: “Anytime we are at FEC meeting, I always harass him that our people don’t have roads to access anywhere. I will still ask him what he is doing on road issues in the region.

He however absolved the government saying that the resources available to the government had never been enough to fix all the roads.

He assured the people of Edo North that he would continue to discuss with his counterpart to ensure that the roads in the oil-rich region are given priority.

He said: “Generally speaking the problem we have today in Nigeria is that the finances available to the government have been very lean. So it is very difficult for the government to rely on annual budgetary allocation to fix any road in Nigeria.

“For example, the budget for the Ministry of Works is about N300 billion. The fund to complete the Eat West Road today is about N300 billion and that is just one road.

“So what government is doing now is to find alternative sources of financing for these roads, especially through Public, Private Partnership arrangements model. That of course we have approved at FEC level, and they are working out modalities.”(THE NATION)