Thousands of angry youths took to the streets of Kwale, Headquarters of Ndokwa West Local Government Area, Delta State, early Monday morning, disrupting vehicular movement and halting commercial activities as they protest against electricity blackout in the communities for over two decades.
The protesters demanded immediate power supply from the Okpai Power Plant Step-Down facility to communities in the entire Ndokwa Nation.
According to them, it is unacceptable that despite hosting significant gas reserves and power installations which feed into the national grid, Ndokwa communities have remained in total darkness for more than twenty years.
“We cannot continue to live like this while our resources power the nation,” one of the protesters declared. “Okpai supplies the national grid, yet we, the hosts, live in darkness. Enough is enough!”
Protesters erected large canopies at Ogume Junction, a crucial point along the Asaba–Kwale–Ozoro highway, completely obstructing traffic between Asaba, Kwale and Ozoro.
Long queues of stranded vehicles formed on both ends of the blockade, with passengers left with no choice but to wait.
A similar protest site was established at the Technical College Junction in Kwale, effectively shutting down the road to Asaba through Ossissa and Ogwashi-Uku.
The protests prompted a heavy deployment of security operatives, including soldiers and police officers, who are currently stationed at strategic locations to monitor the situation.
At the time of this report, no violent confrontations had been recorded.
The protest underscores long-standing feelings of marginalisation and neglect in Ndokwa land, a region rich in oil and gas, but ironically with semblance of development.
Many of the protesters bore placards with powerful messages like, “Light Up Ndokwa Nation”, “We Are Tired of Darkness”, and “No Light, No Peace”.