By Nengi Owei Ilagha
THE KING, chiefs and people of Okpoama are happy over the massive new project brought to the kingdom by their noble son, Chief Timipre Marlin Sylva, former Governor of Bayelsa State and current Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Since getting into office, he has been at the forefront of the campaign to bring concrete development to the land of his birth. In the recent past, in fact, he has made a spirited push for a modular refinery, a tank farm, and a dual carriage road that would take stakeholders from the three adjoining communities of Okpoama, Ewoama and Twon-Brass, to destination point. That dream is coming steadily into being.
His Royal Majesty Ebitimi Banigo, Amanyanabo of Okpoama, is so comfortable with the prospect of growth and progress in his domain that he has since received staff of the construction company under his majestic wings, and given them space in his royal hotel, overlooking the waters of the Atlantic ocean, and the cool breeze that comes with it. The shoreline of the Atlantic has offered more than breeze to builders in Okpoama over the years. It provides an inexhaustible supply of sand, enough to construct a solid road of the best international standard. The old road connecting Twon-Brass, Ewoama and Okpoama was built under the colonial government, and the same beach sand came in useful.
Fak Engineering & Construction Company, the firm undertaking the new road project is taking good advantage of this, acting in the best interest of the communities involved. A relay of trucks run from the sandy coastline through the full length of the Timipre Sylva Airstrip, and turn left to Ewoama, the central community hosting the new road project. At the intersection leading to the main road, an eighteen-year old boy named Ayebanengiyefa Sample watches out for on-coming vehicles. In his right hand is a white flag, and in his left hand a red flag. He is jolly well ready to wave the next vehicle to slow down, come to a stop, and zoom off again.. He works all day long. His traffic control effort complements the four roadsigns of caution planted on both sides of the road, one set facing Okpoama, and the other set facing Ewoama..
The trucks run all the way to the site of the project, and pour out their burden into the sand dumps for the trackors and caterpillars and earth movers to spread the sand evenly over the cleared stretch of swampy land. Inevitably, wet sand drips along the way from the tailboard of the trucks, and enterprising members of the community have since taken it upon themselves to gather the sand into heaps along the roadside, awaiting buyers. On its part, the company deploys workers to clear the sand for the safe passage of motorists and motorcyclists alike. They could be seen in the late afternoon, shoveling sand off the road until their green reflective vests shimmer in the descending dark.
Noel Bob Inafa is happy to be in his home town, Ewoama. He is glad to tell anyone who cares to listen that he has been a citizen of that community for all of forty-seven years of his life. He knows how Ewoama used to be in his days as a boy kicking football around with his play mates, and he knows how the adjoining communities of Twon and Okpoama used to be. He is a homeboy in the best sense of the expression. He knows every nook of Twon and every cranny of Okpoama. He knows the people, and the people know him as a son of the soil. He speaks the Nembe language like a thorough bred. He would command a respectable followership if he were to contest for public office.
Noel is grateful to be part of the story of transformation that is taking place in his hometown, Ewoama. In the years to come, his name will be mentioned as the community relations manager of the company that is constructing a road as long as the runway of an airport. This road is being constructed in the swamp of the Niger Delta, with the dire implication of confronting the proverbial hazards of a difficult terrain. The company undertaking this assignment is the first indigenous construction firm of its kind in Bayelsa. It came into existence in the infancy of the state, and its signature projects are to be seen everywhere in the state capital and beyond.
By all accounts, Fak Engineering & Construction Company keeps to the high standards of Julius Berger. It is on record that, when the Henry Seriake government cancelled the original contract for the Glory Drive project in the state capital, and sought to re-award the contract to Julius Berger, the international construction giant adviced the government to retain the services of Fak Engineering & Construction Company because they were satisfied with the solid structural integrity of the job. It was virtually built to the specifications of Julius Berger.
This did not come as a surprise to the firm with German origins. It so happens that, in the days when the Melford Okilo Road was being constructed by the Alamieyeseigha government, Julius Berger had sublet the drainage work along the road to Fak Engineering & Construction Company.
Fakuma Joseph Ilagha, chief executive officer of Fak Engineering & Construction Company practically has the construction dossier of Julius Berger in his palm. Little wonder, he is called Junior Julius Berger behind his back. Fakuma’s resume is extensive, stretching back to his days with C & C Construction Company in Port Harcourt, where he held his first job as a young civil engineer on the field, proud of his brandied helmet, working with one of the foremost construction companies of the day.
On February 28, 2022, former President Goodluck Jonathan had cause to formally commission the Nembe Unity Bridge built by Fak Engineering & Construction Company at a colourful ceremony that still remains fresh in the memory of the brotherly communities of Obolomabiri and Bassambiri. The bridge stands today like a solid handshake over the stream below, and everyone feels free to take a walk, or a ride, across it on a jolly good day to meet their kith and kin on the other side. Needless to say, the company is bringing the same enduring standards of construction to bear on the new road involving Brass, Ewoama and Okpoama.
In all these instances, the company has been known to conform to best professional practices. It knows for a fact that before any work commences on a construction site, an environmental impact assessment exercise is non-negotiable, more so for a road being constructed in the Niger Delta swamp. Noel Inafa, community relations manager of Fak Engineering & Construction Company, confirms that the company contracted Zeb Energy Consult to undertake the environmental impact assessment survey as a first step, before clearing began at the work site.
“And we made sure that we recruited our workers from the immediate community as much as possible. As we speak, our pool of skilled and unskilled workers can trace their roots to Brass, Ewoama and Okpoama, as the case may be,” says Inafa. According to him, the company mobilized to site on November 11, 2022, and construction of the road is expected to be completed in November 2024. Within this two year space, it is expected that so much will happen to boost development in the area.
*Nengi Owei Ilagha is a journalist, writer and public affairs analyst