Residents of Gana and neighbouring Ugberikoko in Sapele, Delta State, say they will hit the streets on December 8, 2025, to protest what they describe as a broken promise by Seplat Energy and the Sapele Local Government Council.
According to the community, both parties had pledged to fix a network of badly damaged roads, which the residents insist was caused largely by Seplat’s heavy-duty trucks and machinery.
The protest plan stems from a stakeholders’ meeting held earlier in the year, which brought together representatives from the affected communities, Seplat officials, and local government leaders.
At that meeting, Seplat reportedly agreed to begin road rehabilitation work in November. With the month now over and no repair activity initiated, residents say their patience has run out.
For people living in the area, the state of the roads has gone from inconvenient to unbearable. The routes serve as daily lifelines for business, schooling, and community movement, yet they have deteriorated into muddy, waterlogged, and often impassable stretches — conditions residents say worsen each time Seplat’s trucks pass through.
Local government chairman Hon. Bright Abeke is said to have attempted a quick fix by filling some troubled spots with stones.
However, community members dismissed the gesture, arguing that the temporary patches scatter with heavy rains and do nothing to address the deeper problems.
Ahead of the December 8 demonstration, organizers say they have officially informed the police, the local government, and other relevant authorities. They insist the protest will be peaceful and have outlined clear demands: a full reconstruction of the affected roads, proper accountability from Seplat, and a transparent, long-term rehabilitation plan executed by qualified contractors — not short-lived remedies.
For many residents, the issue goes beyond dilapidated roads. The planned protest, they say, is a push for fairness, dignity, and lasting development in communities that bear the environmental and infrastructural weight of industrial operations yet see little sustainable benefit in return.
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