How unprotected bridges claim lives in Jos
From Dickson S. Adama, Jos
The joy of Alhaji Sani Bala Tanko and his family knew no bounds in 2014 when their son, Abdulbasit Sani Bala, got admission into a Malaysian university.
Abdulbasit was a 400-level student of Information and Communication Technology in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, but his family decided that he should complete his studies in Malaysia. Upon securing admission, arrangements were concluded for him to travel to Malaysia on Friday, February 21, 2014.
But all that did not come to fruition, as barely two days to his journey (Wednesday, February 19, 2014), Abdulbasit died in an accident. His car plunged into the river at A. S. Mohammed Bridge, along Farin Gada in Jos.
His father, Alhaji Tanko, a former group manager in First Bank, in charge of Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states, explained that his son’s car plunged into the river as he was trying to avoid a tricycle that wanted to negotiate a turn on the road.
Alhaji Tanko said his family was yet to fully recover from the shock of Abdulbasit’s demise over three years ago because he was the darling boy of the house. However, they had to carry on with their lives and bear the pain in silence.
“Before the incident, and till date, cars have been plunging into deep canals and rivers along bridges that do not have protectors. Apart from cars falling into the rivers and canals, flooding has also drawn people into rivers and canals where they drown. Over the years, many people have lost their lives there,” Tanko said.
He called on the Plateau State Government and the Federal Government to build strong and durable protectors on all the bridges in the state, saying he is always heartbroken to see people die the same way his son died.
He, however, advised motorists and pedestrians to be very careful whenever they are approaching the bridges.
The story of Abdulbasit is just one of the many incidents on the unprotected bridges, particularly in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
Daily Trust on Sunday learnt that people sometimes wake up in the morning to see corpses in canals and rivers. Apart from motorists, pedestrians who walk along the unprotected bridges also miss their steps and fall into the rivers and canals respectively.
Last week, a green CRV Honda jeep with three occupants lost control along the Ring Road bridge, off British-America, and plunged into the deep canal under the bridge. The car somersaulted several times before crash-landing. Most of the passersby who came to the scene of the accident lamented the lack of any protective iron or guard by the sidewalk of the bridge.
The driver of the car was identified as Grace Chiroma Dung while the other two occupants were a male and a female. Fortunately, they all came out of the car alive, but Mrs Dung, who was the only person injured, has been lying in hospital bed at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH). She has not been able to walk or move her limbs since then.
Mrs Dung told our correspondent in the hospital that she couldn’t explain what happened, saying there was traffic holdup and she was driving very slowly.
“I was going home after work and ran into a holdup along Ring Road. But all of a sudden, I just felt my car being dragged from the road and heading into the canal. This is mysterious because I neither hit any car nor any car hit me. And I was not on speed because there was heavy holdup. I tried to control the car but could not because there was no protector on the bridge to prevent us from tumbling into the canal.
“All I shouted was, Jesus! Then I closed my eyes because I didn’t want to see how the car would crashland. That’s all I could remember. The next thing was that I found myself hearing people’s voices. I later found myself in the Plateau State-owned hospital, from where I was referred to JUTH, which is where I work as a nurse. Right now, I cannot walk nor move my legs as they are numb. I am now doing physiotherapy,” she said.
Mrs Dung said her desire was to get on her feet and walk again. She called on government to come to her aid, and above all, construct protectors on the bridges to prevent cars and pedestrians from falling into the canals and rivers.
A driver who plied the BritishAmerican junction road, Sani Musa, said most of the bridges had protectors, but they are no longer there because the bridges are old and dilapidated. He said quality and modern protectors should be constructed on the bridges, adding that when this is done, it would be difficult for any car to plunge into a river or canal. He said it was the responsibility of the government to build and rehabilitate bridges across the state.
In his remark, the public education officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Plateau State command, Bala Andrew, said their role as an agency was to sensitise road users on safe driving along bridges and other roads.
He also said they usually identified all the bad roads and unprotected bridges and make necessary recommendations during their audit report to the relevant government agencies.
He said the Plateau State Government and the FRSC had been collaborating to ensure safe motoring and accident reduction on the roads. He noted that last weekend, they met with Governor Simon Lalong on road crashes and speed reduction in a conference organised by Kwapda’as Road Safety Demand (KRSD) Trust Fund in Jos.
During the conference, the governor had cautioned motorists in the state and beyond to eschew reckless driving, which could cost them their lives and those of the occupants of their cars.
The governor also urged drivers not to drink any form of alcohol before going on the wheels, adding that drunk-driving has also been responsible for many of the road crashes.
Lalong said he had lost several friends and relatives to accidents in recent times, adding that till date, he and his family were yet to recover from some of the shocks.
The governor also noted that some drivers are sometimes in a hurry to get to their destinations; hence they are tempted to overspeed, which often leads to accidents and eventual loss of lives.
Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday, the senior special assistant to the governor on media and publicity, Mark Longyen, said the government was not oblivious of the unprotected bridges and the dangers they portended. He, however, said the Jos Metropolitan Development Board and the state Ministry of Work were not resting on their oars, adding that work on various roads within the state capital was at various stages of completion.
“If you go round Jos metropolis right now you would see a lot of work going on in places like Angwan Rogo, Rantya, Tudun Wada-Mando, Jos-Bukuru, JosMarraban Jemma, etc. The bridges are being looked into; it is just that government cannot finish all the road projects within Jos in one swoop. This is because of the overwhelming nature of the jobs and, of course, their attendant huge financial demands,” he said.