The rehabilitation work ongoing on the railway track from Port Harcourt to Makurdi has been temporarily put on hold due to continuous attacks on the contractors by Ishiagu community in Ebonyi as disclosed by a railway official.
Briefing newsmen on the development he had termed a great setback, the Regional District Manager of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Eastern District, Mr Felix Njoku, asserted on Wednesday that the
efforts of the contractors currently working on the site have been frustrated as a result of attacks from the villagers.
Njoku said that the community had stopped ESER West Africa, the contractor handling the project from using the quarry site that is within the community, threatening the contractor with all sorts of weapons.
According to him, “The Ishiagu Quarry Site is vested in the Nigeria Railway Corporation by the 1955 Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as Land Use Act of 1978 and now the Laws of the Federation 2007.
“Nobody has contested this position not even the Amaeze community in Ivo Local Government, the land owners, “he said.
He further stated that the contractor who was awarded the contract of the rehabilitation was to begin extraction and crushing of weighty stones for the project, but was stopped by the community who now claim that they own the land.
He further affirmed thus “It was also discovered on enquiry that the host community illegally granted the company permission believing that they were the land owners but they lack such powers, “he said.
He said that the attempt by some of the community members to extort money from the contractor had resulted into the use of force as the youth of the community have been sent after the contractors who are now on the run for their lives.
He disclosed that “ESER has stopped work for some time now because they are not allowed to crush the required stones for their job, thereby altering the 10-month contract which is now entering its second year,“
In his appeal to Ebonyi State Government and security agencies within the area, The Manager had asked the state government to intervene in other to rescue them from the hands of the community so as to complete work on the project as fast as possible.
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