More Details Emerge on Bonny Ring Road Project as NDDC, NLNG Gifts Monarch Commencement  

As the Bonny Ring Road project commences in earnest, Kristina Reports has learnt that the kick-start of the project was actually a birthday gift by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the Amanyanabo of Bonny Kingdom as he celebrated his diamond jubilee anniversary.

The NDDC did this in conjunction with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG), which Kristina Reports has learnt is providing 80% of the funding for the long-awaited project.

Reliable sources within the NLNG hinted Kristina Reports that the company was providing N300 billion out of the N375 billion needed for the project. This amount is actually, the NLNG three per cent contribution to the NDDC.

Kristina Reports learnt that the NLNG insisted on tying the fund to an identifiable project which progress it can monitor, and after lengthy deliberations, was mutually agreed to invest the funds into the Bonny Ring Road with NDDC providing the 20% or N75 billion balance.

This consensus was reportedly reached in consideration of the alleged ceaseless request of the Amanyanabo to gift him and his people the road project, which is envisaged to interconnect the rural communities on the North-Eastern axis of Bonny Local Government Area.

At several fora, the Managing Director of the NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku has reiterated the determination of the Commission to deliver the road alongside several others, stressing that it was a mandate from President Bola Tinubu.  

A statement by the NDDC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Seledi Thompson-Wakama in February 2025 stated that Dr Ogbuku, during a Two-Day Board and Management Retreat of the Commission in Ikeja, Lagos State, disclosed that the Commission has engaged international oil and gas companies (IOCs) to attract partnerships for large-scale projects.

“We are collaborating with Nigeria LNG (NLNG) to facilitate the construction of the Bonny Ring Road. The other major road projects,” he said, including the Kaa-Ataba and Borokiri-Okrika roads.”

Also in February 2025, the NDDC Chief Executive Officer told a delegation of civil society organizations that visited him in his office in Port Harcourt that concerns associated with the fallouts of the completion of the Bodo-Bonny Road have already been envisaged and the Bonny Ring Road was a succinct solution to that.

He announced that the Commission under his watch has concluded arrangements to embark on the Bonny Ring Road project in partnership with the NLNG, pointing out that such key projects are a demonstration of its commitment to an aggressive development of the Niger Delta region.

Also, while addressing a delegation of Niger Delta groups from Bonny led by the Chairman of Concerned Citizens of Bonny, Victor Ibaningo, in his office in Port Harcourt, the NDDC Managing Director represented by the Commission’s Director Community and Rural Development, Theophilus Allagoa, assured that the Bonny Ring Road and other projects were already receiving attention as discussions were in progress.

It is clear with the commencement of construction work on the project site by the contractor, Etteh Aro and Partners (EAP) with Corporate Affairs Commission registration number: BN – IBZ030850, the NDDC is matching its words with action.

The project details as displayed on the NDDC website as at Tuesday, June 17, 2025 are as follows: Project Name: Construction of Bonny Ring Road/Bridges, Rivers State; Reference Number: NDDC/EDP/CONS/0200; Project Location: Bonny in Rivers State; Project Type: Consultancy; Project Award Date: May 20, 2010; Project Status: On-Going; and Project Contractor: Etteh Aro and Partners.

Checks by Kristina Reports on the website of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), however, revealed disturbing details. The company, which was founded in 1970 by two young engineers, Ette Ikpong Ikpong Etteh, OFR, and Lawrence Oluwawemimo Arokodare, has been registered with the CAC thrice and as a business name all three times.

It was registered on September 11, 1979 as ETTEH ARO & PARTNERS as a business with registration number: BN – 368904. It was later declared inactive by the CAC.

It was again on April 29, 1970 registered as ETTEH ARO AND ARO AND PARTNERS with registration number: BN – 140152. It was again declared inactive by the CAC.

Then, on November 20, 2005 it again registered as ETTEH ARO & PARTNERS with registration number: BN – IBZ030850 and remains active as at Tuesday, June 17, 2025.

A concerned public policy analyst, who spoke to Kristina Reports in confidence as he claimed to be close to the process, expressed worry over a company that goes extinct on average of 15 years intervals and is always being registered as a business name or enterprise and not as a limited liability company.

“I am sure Bonny people are happy that the project is taking off at this time but the concern remains that it is not abandoned like Jafac did years ago. There is always the need to engage stakeholders in contractor sourcing as well as doing due diligence on the prospective contractor.”   

In 2009, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), in realization of the need to connect Bonny Town to the neighbouring villages, awarded a contract for the construction of the Bonny Ring Road and Bridge at a sum of N11,204,168,023.10.

The contract, which was awarded to Jafac Motors and Jafac Investments Limited was abandoned about five years after with only 20% of the work done.

Expectations are now rife that the NDDC should ensure that the follow-through mechanism for the project at this time should be hassle-free with a view to delivering the project seamlessly.