By Bayo Wahab
President Bola Tinubu has earned the title of grandmaster of partnership from Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State for initiating the construction of a coastal road designed to link Lagos to coastal states.
Governor Diri while speaking at the Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) medical outreach in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, on Thursday, April 3, 2025, said Tinubu’s Lagos-Calabar initiative answers the Ijaws decade-long request for a coastal road.
He said, “The president has done what the Ijaws have been requesting for. I remember my days in the Ijaw National Congress, we talked about coastal roads, that will link Lagos to all the coastal states, and this is over some 30 years ago, but under President Ahmed Tinubu, that road has been awarded, and this is what the Ijaws wanted.”
Explaining why he described the president as a grandmaster of partnership, Diri said his attempt to collaborate with the Muhammadu Buhari administration to build roads in some of the difficult terrains in Bayelsa failed despite writing many letters to the presidency.
According to him, the then Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, was the only person who replied to one of his letters, and despite his response, the partnership he sought for the Nembe-Brass road did not work out.
The governor revealed that his administration has almost completed the first phase of the road, adding that President Tinubu has already awarded the second phase of the project, and contractors have started working.
“Our President, I will call him the grandmaster of collaboration. Why did I say so? Since I assumed office as Governor of Bayelsa State, I have had three very difficult senatorial terrains; one is the Nembe-Brass road, the other is Yenagoa-Oporoma-Ukubie-Koloama road, and the third is the Ekeremor-Agge road. I’ve written letters to the then government, and the only person who responded to me was the then Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, and the collaboration never worked.
“Until President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took over, again, I wrote letters and visited him, the good news, Bayelsans are already aware is that the first phase of Nembe-Brass road is nearing completion but President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has awarded the second phase of the Nembe-Brass road. The contractor has reported to me, and the contractor has reported to site and so work will commence on the second phase,” Gov Diri said.
The PDP governor, however, expressed hope that President Tinubu would complete the coastal road.
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