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If there is any achievement of James Onanefe Ibori the people of Delta State will not forget in a hurry, it is the construction of four bridges in different parts of the state to link the creeks to the upland. The Bomadi, Omadino, Ase and Olomu bridges were completed and made functional within his eight years in office as governor of the state between 1999 and 2007. Comrade Ovuozorie Macaulay, secretary to the state government, SSG, noted that, “Ibori must be given credit of being the one and only governor in this country who initiated and completed four bridges in eight years”. For Funkekeme Solomon, Works Commissioner, the construction of the bridges was part of the rural integration programme of the former governor, stressing that “now, there are roads connecting various villages. Before Ibori, it was not possible; it was believed impossible because of the difficult terrain”. He said “one of the things we are happy is that then, people were locked up, no integration. And when that happens, of course, tempers normally rise… These are massive infrastructure”. The Bomadi Bridge was commissioned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. A resident of Ughoton community and direct beneficiary of the Omadino Bridge, Eddy Agofure, aluminum fabricator with a thriving business close to the bridge, hailed Ibori for building the bridge. He noted that the bridge had brought development to the area with people who hitherto were not interested in building houses in their ancestral home land because of prohibitive cost of transporting building materials, later encouraged to do so.
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