By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa
”For years, we have endured the headache of witnessing lives lost during the peak of flood due to the incomplete state of our community’s bridge. We have repeatedly called on the authorities, especially the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to revisit the construction of this bridge, which has been abandoned for decades and has become an albatross, leading to deaths of residents who risk their lives daily crossing the Epie Creek.” lamented 77-year-old John Gift, a native of Akenfa community.
In the heart of this densely populated Epie community with a mix of farmers, civil servants, businessmen and women, a quiet anguish has settled like a thick fog, refusing to go. For years, the people have watched in horror as the waters rose during the flood seasons, swallowing their loved ones. The pain is still raw; the memories etched in their minds like a scar that refuses to heal.
A Death Trap
The Akenfa bridge, a concrete behemoth, has stood dormant for over two decades, its unfinished structure is a testament to bureaucratic red tape and political negligence. This wasting asset was a vital lifeline that could have saved countless lives. Its neglect tells a tragic tale of a community scarred by government inaction and the resilience that refuses to be drowned.
The deteriorating structure has become a symbol of frustration for residents, who risk life and limb during flood seasons to cross Epie Creek. The high current and the deplorable conditions of the wooden boats that ferry them make for a hazardous voyage, especially at night when visibility is poor.
Community Folks Speak Out
Pa Gift shares their struggles: “I have seen boats capsize and I have seen people lose their lives during high flood. I have also seen people slip and fall.”
“Young or old, everyone fears the crossing,” he added as he tried to repair a broken section of the rickety wooden path beside the abandoned concrete bridge to ensure safe passage for the people.
Residents pay a token N100 fee for passage, though the dilapidated and shaky structure is sometimes opened to those without cash, with promises to pay on another trip.
This reporter who visited the area also noticed an iron structure built across the creek less than 500 meters from the abandoned concrete bridge. However, the passage is so narrow that only one tricycle can pass at a time, let alone larger vehicles.
Lamenting the community’s plight, the paramount ruler, HRH Osomkuwo Obadiah, said: “This bridge has been abandoned for years, despite its strategic importance to pedestrians and vehicular traffic. It was meant to connect our community to other parts of Yenagoa, easing movement and facilitating trade. Yet, construction, which began in 2005 by Shell Petroleum Development Company and later continued by NDDC in 2016, remains stalled, resulting in avoidable boat mishaps and deaths during floods.”
Also speaking, Chief Osborne Marcus, a native, said: “We have lost count of how many times we’ve had to rescue people who fell into the water during floods. Many have lost their lives, and some corpses are never recovered because of the strong water current at the peak of flood season.”
He continued: “Some have even been bitten by snakes while passing through this path at night. They don’t care about us. We are Bayelsans, too, we deserve better as an oil producing community.”
Other residents demand accountability and action. “This bridge has become a symbol of disgrace and shame,” lamented Daniel Ware. “We can’t afford to allow this waste to continue.”
Larry Eseimukumoh, an artisan said: “If that bridge is completed, it will serve as a spur so that those who want to cross over to the other side of Akenfa as well as those heading to the Gbarain axis of Yenagoa council area can do so with ease instead of going through Igbogene on the fringe of the state capital.”
Madam Joy Timiebi, a petty trader and mother of three also recalled the tragic loss of lives on a boat mishaps in the course of ferrying residents across the treacherous creek during flooding which is a perennial occurrence in the state:
“We are disturbed by this nagging problem of drowning and loss of lives every year in the area due to the high current during the floods. We call on authorities to expedite the project’s completion so our community can feel a sense of belonging.”
Renowned environmentalist Alagoa Morris criticized the long neglect of the project: “That bridge has been abandoned for too long. Despite its importance, it remains incomplete—a shame. I have long advocated for motorable bridges at strategic points across Epie Creek, but only after proper Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA). Such bridges would not only improve movement but also foster development and enhance the aesthetic appeal of the state capital.”
He recalled: “The replacement of old metal bridges at Igbogene and Etegwe during the Dickson administration was a leap forward. The current administration of Senator Douye Diri is nearing completion of another bridge at Imgbi Junction, not far from the one started and finished by the previous administration.
“Only recently, the women of Akenfa protested against the abandonment of the concrete bridge in their community; taking into consideration the importance of such infrastructure.
The protesters blocked the major road. It was in the reaction of the state government that many came to realise that it is a responsibility of the NDDC.”
A concerned resident, Ms Loveth Onome, expressed sadness over the neglect and urged the NDDC to ensure the timely completion of the project given Akebfa’s enormous contribution to the nation’s economy as an oil producing community.
“It is no longer news that the long abandoned Akenfa bridge has been a serious source of concern to many patriotic Nigerians, not only Epie-Atissa or Akenfa community indigenes. Ironically, Akenfa is one of the communities sustaining the economic stability of Nigeria, as her vast oil and gas resource is a crucial fulcrum keeping the country afloat.
“Indeed it is disheartening that a critical project like that which would benefit not just Akenfa community, but the larger Nigerian interest, is suffering from such neglect.
Maybe we need to remind the concerned authorities that the bridge links the Etelebu oil and gas reservoir, on Akenfa soil.
“This is therefore a wake up call for the immediate commencement of the abandoned Akenfa bridge, to completion. May I humbly appeal to both the state government and indigenes of Akenfa community to ensure the enabling environment is assured and maintained so that the project which would even serve both social and economic ends gets to the end of the tunnel, when it eventually takes off again,” she said.
However, Mumeya Wilson, a native of Akenfa, recalled how the project was conceived, their ordeal and the many entreaties made to get the project back on track till date.
He told Vanguard, “The abandoned bridge was SPDC idea but later handed over to NDDC, and NDDC awarded it to Osmosef Nig Limited, and they left the site in 2010, and till date, no additional work has been done.
“From 2012, each time flood comes, lives are at danger as some lives have been lost already. Several attempts have been made to attract NDDC back, even threatening SPDC, now Renaissance but all efforts proved abortive. In 2023, the Prosperity Government under Sen. Douye Diri made a pronouncement about taking over the Akenfa bridge alongside Polaku bridge and Sabagreia, but still, no sign of the company returning to site, but Polaku bridge and others are near completion.
“This made us write letters to the Government and their continuous refusal and silence provoked us to embark on a peaceful protest that happened on the 22nd of October, 2025, blocking the Mbiama -Yenagoa road, where Police shot teargas at the peaceful protesters.
“It was after the protest, the government opened up and told us that they had since March 10, reverted Akenfa bridge to NDDC for completion. And recently, before the death of His Excellency Sen Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, he summoned NDDC and Akenfa Communities at his office, where they (Government) officially handed the letter of reverting the bridge to NDDC and they accepted and promised to get it into the budget.
“Accordingly, H. E inaugurated a tripartite committee, involving 4 persons from Akenfa (Chief. D. B Ikiogha, HRH ESV Isiya Albert, Wilson Mumeya Fidelis- community Secretary and Moses IZIBEKIEBO Humble – Youth President) alongside works, DCOS and the NDDC representatives. So far, that is where we are until the untimely death of His Excellency Sen Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.”
Abandoned and Forgotten
Recall that the project was meant to be a game-changer for the capital city. However, years of abandonment have turned it into a death trap, claiming lives and livelihoods. Residents are forced to risk their lives on makeshift ‘monkey bridge’, vulnerable to the treacherous currents of the flood season.
Buck Passing and Broken Dreams
The Akenfa Bridge saga is a tangled web of politics and bureaucracy. In 2023, the NDDC handed the project back to the Bayelsa State government, only for it to be returned to the commission in March 2025.
Samuel Ogbuku, NDDC’s Managing Director, in 2023 announced that the commission had formally handed over the Akenfa and Polaku bridge projects to the Bayelsa government for completion.
At the handover ceremony in Yenagoa, Ogbuku said the contractors had been paid and there were “no encumbrances” preventing the state from continuing construction.
“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 said.
Call to Action
However, two years later, while the Polaku bridge in the Gbarain axis also in Yenagoa LGA is almost completed work did not resume on the Akenfa bridge site, prompting the latter community folks to stage a protest sometime in October to draw government attention to their plight.
But unknown to many the state government reverted the project back to the NDDC in the first quarter of the year and called on the commission to resume and complete the long abandoned bridge project some of which pillars are already in deplorable condition due to years abandonment and exposure to the elements.
Project No Longer Under Bayelsa Govt
Indication that the state government had washed its hands off the troubled project emerged sometime in November during a tripartite meeting chaired by the state deputy governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo of blessed memory with representatives of the NDDC, leaders of the Akenfa community and relevant government officials.
The government explained that though it decided to take over some neglected NDDC projects in the state, including the Polaku Bridge that of Akenfa was reverted back to the commission after a mutual discussion between them.
The deputy governor revealed at the meeting that the state government officially communicated the re-handing over of the project to NDDC in a letter dated 10th March, 2025.
His words, “The project has actually been sent back to the NDDC to handle. But the NDDC seems to be far away from the Akenfa Community. So they find it easier to come to us. We believe that the project has gone a long way. What is required to complete it may not be as much as what has gone in there.
Hope rekindled
“So, we felt that we should have this tripartite interaction to let the community know officially that the project is now in the hands of NDDC, and also to let the agency know that our community is agitated considering the long history of that project.”
He empathized with the Akenfa community over the delay in the execution of the project, and urged the NDDC to expedite the process of completing it with a view to putting an end to commuting challenges facing the people.
Responding on behalf of the NDDC, its Bayelsa representative, Senator Deinyabofa Dimaro, assured that the commission would review the entire project and have it captured in its 2026 budget for seamless execution.
Dimaro, who promised to properly relate the issue to the Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, however, requested relevant documents from the state government regarding the reversion of the project back to the NDDC.
Representatives of Akenfa Community present at the meeting included former Chief of Staff Government House, Yenagoa, Chief Dikivie Ikiogha, and a one-time paramount ruler of the community, Chief Isiya Albert.
The Akenfa Bridge in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, stands as a haunting reminder of failed promises and dashed dreams. As the wait continues, residents remain anxious and their safety hangs in the balance.
The post Bayelsa community: Where residents walk to death on Akenfa bridge appeared first on Vanguard News.
