IYE Calls for Revival of the Koko-Ogheye-Epe Coastal Highway: Rekindling a Forgotten Promise to the Niger Delta

In a renewed call for infrastructural justice and regional integration, the Itsekiri Youth Elites (IYE), a foremost intellectual and advocacy group of young Itsekiri professionals has urged the Federal Government to prioritize the completion of the long-abandoned Koko–Ogheye–Epe–Lagos Coastal Highway. Speaking at there Warri office on Monday 10th November, 2025 IYE Secretary, Eboma Tuoyo, lamented the Federal Government’s neglect of what he described as a “sleeping artery of progress” for the Niger Delta. He emphasized that the highway, once envisioned as a transformative link between Delta State and Lagos, has been left to decay, denying millions of people the socio-economic cum political opportunities it once promised.

Recalling the project’s origins, IYE’s Public Relations Officer, Toju Ogharanduku, traced the highway’s conception back to 1955 under the visionary leadership of the late Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Nigeria’s first Minister of Finance. He noted that, despite its early promise, successive administrations allowed the dream to wither under the weight of bureaucracy and political indifference. Ogharanduku decried the isolation of over eighty Itsekiri and coastal communities that remain cut off from the nation’s key trade corridors. He maintained that, when completed, the road could reduce travel time between Delta and Lagos to under two hours; an infrastructural feat capable of redefining commerce and connectivity across the South-South.

IYE further reminded the government that the project was formally flagged off on June 10, 2010, by former Delta State Governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, with an initial cost estimate of ₦97 billion. The first phase, valued at ₦14.9 billion, was awarded to Levant Construction Company by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Hon. Daniel Reyeneju who was a former Member Representing Warri Federal Constituency in the National House of Representatives played a very significant role in ensuring this project become a reality. Conceived as a strategic economic corridor to link Delta’s coastal belt with the emerging Lekki industrial hub, the project was expected to unlock new trade routes, ease transport logistics, and boost tourism. Fifteen years later, however, the site stands as a silent reminder of Nigeria’s unfulfilled development pledges a monument to promise deferred.

Beyond its infrastructural merit, IYE underscored the highway’s broader socioeconomic and environmental significance. The group highlighted that the route traverses rich agricultural zones suitable for rice, plantain, and tomato cultivation, resources validated by international research bodies. Completion of the road, they argued, would also revitalize the local fishing economy along the Benin River, one of Nigeria’s most vibrant aquatic ecosystems. IYE therefore called on Hon. Ashima, Chairman of Warri North Local Government, to adopt a hands-on approach in monitoring the project’s progress and ensuring transparency in its eventual execution.

In their closing remarks, the IYE leadership made a heartfelt appeal to the Federal Government to fulfill its longstanding commitments to the Niger Delta. “The Koko–Ogheye–Epe Coastal Highway is not just an infrastructure project,” the group declared, “it is a covenant of hope between government and people.” They urged both state and federal authorities to rise above rhetorics and embrace action, asserting that genuine national progress begins with keeping faith with promises long made and long forgotten.

Signed:

Comr. Eboma Tuoyo Michael
Secretary
Itsekiri Youths Elites (IYE)

Comr. Toritseju Joseph Ogharandukun
PRO
Itsekiri Youths Elites (IYE)

Comr. Oritsetsemisan Momorin
Spokeperson
Itsekiri Youths Elites (IYE)