Features
How Bayelsa residents brave tear gas in protest over abandoned bridge project
Written By: Udo Inobeme
24 Oct 2025 03:38 AM
Yenagoa, Bayelsa – Frustration boiled over into the streets of Yenagoa on Wednesday as residents of Akenfa-Epie community blocked the Melford Okilo Expressway, protesting the nine-year abandonment of the Akenfa Bridge project.
Police responded with tear gas to disperse the crowd, highlighting the deepening rift between locals and authorities over stalled infrastructure in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.
The Akenfa Bridge, spanning Epie Creek, was intended to link Akenfa-Epie Community to central Yenagoa, alleviating chronic flooding and easing daily commutes.
Awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2016 for N800 million under then-Acting Managing Director Ibim Semenitari, the project was touted as a flagship initiative alongside roads at Federal University Otuoke and Niger Delta University.
Semenatari described it during a 2016 meeting with Bayelsa State officials as a "major ongoing infrastructure project."
Construction ground to a halt shortly after, with the project ping-ponging between the NDDC and Bayelsa State Government. In April 2023, NDDC Managing Director Samuel Ogbuku formally handed over the Akenfa and Polaku bridge projects to Governor Douye Diri, assuring no outstanding contractor payments.
"We are handing over the Akenfa and Polaku bridge projects to the Bayelsa State Government for completion and for the benefit of the people. We are not owing the contractors, so the government is free to handle the two projects," Ogbuku stated at the Yenagoa handover ceremony.
Diri pledged collaboration to finish the bridges but acknowledged the state's history of inheriting unfinished NDDC works.
Despite the fanfare, over two years later, the site remains dormant.
Eyewitness videos circulating on social media captured protesters chanting demands for resumption of work, only for the demonstration to turn chaotic as police deployed tear gas.
"The uncompleted bridge has left the community isolated, worsening flooding and limiting access," reported The Nation Nigeria, noting the protest's escalation from peaceful blockade to confrontation.
Residents, including women and youth, decried the loss of lives during annual floods due to makeshift crossings, echoing earlier pleas from community leaders in 2022.
A review of Bayelsa State's 2024 and 2025 budgets by Daily South Nigeria reveals no allocations for the Akenfa Bridge, despite its public handover.
This omission has fueled accusations of neglect, with locals questioning the state's commitment amid competing priorities like flood mitigation in Yenagoa suburbs.
As of Friday, neither the Bayelsa State Government nor the NDDC has issued an official response to the protest. Community leaders have vowed to sustain pressure, warning of broader unrest if the project isn't revived soon.
The incident underscores persistent challenges in the Niger Delta, where billions in federal interventions often yield incomplete legacies, leaving residents to bear the brunt.
Police responded with tear gas to disperse the crowd, highlighting the deepening rift between locals and authorities over stalled infrastructure in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.
The Akenfa Bridge, spanning Epie Creek, was intended to link Akenfa-Epie Community to central Yenagoa, alleviating chronic flooding and easing daily commutes.
Awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2016 for N800 million under then-Acting Managing Director Ibim Semenitari, the project was touted as a flagship initiative alongside roads at Federal University Otuoke and Niger Delta University.
Semenatari described it during a 2016 meeting with Bayelsa State officials as a "major ongoing infrastructure project."
Construction ground to a halt shortly after, with the project ping-ponging between the NDDC and Bayelsa State Government. In April 2023, NDDC Managing Director Samuel Ogbuku formally handed over the Akenfa and Polaku bridge projects to Governor Douye Diri, assuring no outstanding contractor payments.
"We are handing over the Akenfa and Polaku bridge projects to the Bayelsa State Government for completion and for the benefit of the people. We are not owing the contractors, so the government is free to handle the two projects," Ogbuku stated at the Yenagoa handover ceremony.
Diri pledged collaboration to finish the bridges but acknowledged the state's history of inheriting unfinished NDDC works.
Despite the fanfare, over two years later, the site remains dormant.
Eyewitness videos circulating on social media captured protesters chanting demands for resumption of work, only for the demonstration to turn chaotic as police deployed tear gas.
"The uncompleted bridge has left the community isolated, worsening flooding and limiting access," reported The Nation Nigeria, noting the protest's escalation from peaceful blockade to confrontation.
Residents, including women and youth, decried the loss of lives during annual floods due to makeshift crossings, echoing earlier pleas from community leaders in 2022.
A review of Bayelsa State's 2024 and 2025 budgets by Daily South Nigeria reveals no allocations for the Akenfa Bridge, despite its public handover.
This omission has fueled accusations of neglect, with locals questioning the state's commitment amid competing priorities like flood mitigation in Yenagoa suburbs.
As of Friday, neither the Bayelsa State Government nor the NDDC has issued an official response to the protest. Community leaders have vowed to sustain pressure, warning of broader unrest if the project isn't revived soon.
The incident underscores persistent challenges in the Niger Delta, where billions in federal interventions often yield incomplete legacies, leaving residents to bear the brunt.
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