DIPLOMAN TIMES

Bayelsa State authorities have reopened coordination with the Akenfa community over an incomplete link bridge project following renewed community protest and a blockade at an oil facility.

Deputy Governor Peter Akpe met Akenfa community representatives in Yenagoa and urged them to remove the blockade affecting Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited's facility. He said dialogue should be used to address the infrastructure grievance rather than disruption of oil production activities.

Akpe said the state government had formally handed the bridge project to the Niger Delta Development Commission in 2025 and that he would contact the agency to establish the current status. He said the state would work with stakeholders toward resumption and completion.

The state information commissioner said a tripartite committee had previously been established involving the community, NDDC and government following a December 2025 meeting. She listed representatives appointed to the committee and said the arrangement was intended to support resumption of the project.

Community leaders attributed the protest to hardship associated with the project's long abandonment. They said the project began in 2010 following an alleged agreement between NDDC and Renaissance Africa Energy Company. The source records that assertion without independently verifying the agreement.

The latest meeting has therefore shifted attention back to coordination among the state, NDDC and community. No new construction milestone or completion date was announced, while the deputy governor's immediate commitment was to obtain clarification on the project's status and pursue further engagement.