Youths of Eleme in Rivers have shut down the Eleme axis of the East-West road in Port Harcourt on Monday, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded.
The youths who were armed with various placards were protesting the failure of the Nigerian government to fix that portion of the road which has been in dilapidation.
A large number of youths blocked the road at Akpajo Refinery Junction and Trailer Park ends of the road and stopped motorists from passing.
They deflated tyres of articulated vehicles, which they used to block the roads.
Thousands of stranded commuters were forced to trek several kilometres to catch transportation at either end of the holdup.
The protest obstructed business activities of major companies such as petrochemicals, Nigeria Ports Authority, Port Harcourt Refinery Company and other military establishments located along the stretch of the road.
The East-West road is a major nerve for road networks going through Port Harcourt.
One of the protesters, John Ollowi, said that the youths are not happy over the poor state of the road despite huge sums of money collected from companies located along the stretch of the road.
“We want to use the protest to draw the attention of the authorities about the poor state of East-West road. You have big industries such as the Port Harcourt Refinery Company, Eleme Petrochemical/Indorama, NPA and others located along the stretch of the road making huge profits and nobody cares about the poor state of the road,” he said.
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, promised shortly after his visit to the road last year that his ministry would award a contract for the rehabilitation of the road.
But nothing has been done since the promise was made before the shutdown on Monday.
