Military eases traffic jam along Abuja road

Pressure from commuters over gridlock along Nyanya and Karu roads has made soldiers at Kugbo checkpoint to open another lane to ease traffic flow.

Commuters had complained that the traffic jam had turned terrible and appealed to the authorities to do something on it.

Soldiers had reduced the three-lane Nyanya-AYA expressway to a single lane in order to search vehicles after last week’s bomb blast at a bus terminus in Nyanya.

A resident of Ado in Nasarawa State said he left his house at about 4.30 am to beat the traffic jam but was still stuck at Nyanya as at 7.30 am.

Another resident who resides at Karu Site said be left home at 7 am and was held-up in the traffic jam for three hours.

According to him, a military vehicle with an officer arrived at the scene at about 10 am and vehicles were allowed to pass for some time to ease the gridlock before the one-lane checkpoint was increased to two.

Reacting to the gridlock caused by the military operation, the Defence Headquarters yesterday urged the public to tolerate the temporary security measures along the road.

Director of Defence Information, MajorGeneral Chris Olukolade, said the traffic gridlock was as a result of ongoing checks on vehicles coming into the city.

“The general public is assured that the measures are not punitive or deliberately meant to inconvenience road users,” he said.

Major-General Olukolade said: “The security measures will be reviewed as more equipment and additional supports are introduced to ease the gridlock.”