Mawogi community cut off from Abaji by River Gurara
Residents of Mawogi community in Alu/ Maamagi ward of Abaji area council in the FCT have been cut off from the rest of the council by River Gurara.
For decades, the residents have faced difficulty crossing the river to connect with other communities like Nanda, Pachuwa and Agyana for social or business activities due to lack of bridge across the river.
The community has a junior secondary school and students from the neighbouring villages cross the river travel by canoe every day to and from school.
Alhaji Mohammed Hassan, the traditional ruler of the community, while speaking with Aso Chronicle, said the major challenge facing his people was lack of a bridge across the river.
He said farmers transport their crops to the river bank, from where a canoe would ferry them across the river and later load them inside a vehicle to the market in Abaji.
He said 80 percent of the crops produced in the community were sold at giveaway prices to middlemen who take advantage of the challenges farmers faced in transporting their produce to the markets.
He said women traders usually came from Kogi and Edo states to the Gurara river bank to buy the goods cheap from farmers.
He added that lack of a bridge had affected social and economic activities in the community, saying farmers, who want to sell their crops themselves at the market, spend a lot of money to convey them there.
According to him, elders and stakeholders of the community wrote to the previous and the present FCT administrations on the need to construct a bridge across the river, which he said, had not materialized.
He stated that if a bridge was constructed across the river, communities in Niger State would also be connected easily with the council.
“Although, the present FCT minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, has promised to construct a bridge across River Gurara,” he said.
The village chief also lamented the abandoned electricity project in the community, saying the electrification which started under the previous administration had remained uncompleted.
He said since electric poles and high tension cables were mounted from neighbouring Pandagi village to the river bank, the project has remained like that. He appealed to the present council authorities to intensify effort in completing the electrification project.
“I am sure that if the electrification is completed today, it will boost socioeconomic activities in Mawogi, especially when a bridge is constructed across the river. My people are still appreciating the effort of the past council chairman, Alhaji Musa Yahaya Muhammad, who in his wisdom constructed and asphalted the road right from Agyana down to the river bank,” he said.
The traditional ruler further appealed to the council authorities, under the leadership of Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya, to provide the community with health personnel that will man the newly constructed health clinic, which he said was donated by Senator Philip Aduda a year ago.
He said lack of health personnel posed a big challenge to the community utilizing the health centre. He said only one health personnel, who is a native of the community, was attending to patients, including pregnant women.
“And sometimes when there are serious complications, especially with women who are in labour, he becomes overwhelmed. He usually refers such cases to Abaji General Hospital or any hospital within Abaji town,” he added.
Also speaking, a former vice chairman of the council, Alhaji Usman Idris Mawogi, said the community had been facing numerous challenges due to lack of bridge across the river.
He said he had written several letters through the village chief and other stakeholders to the past FCT administration requesting for construction of a bridge across the river which, he added, could not yield any positive result.
“In fact, you can recall the recent incident of boat mishap in which the lives of some young men from my village were lost while crossing River Gurara. I believe that it is what God has destined to happen but I am sure if there was a bridge across the river, it would not only save lives, but will boost socio-economic activities too,” he said.
The former vice chairman, therefore, called on the Abaji council chairman, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya, to use his position to mount pressure on the minister to commence construction of the bridge by the end of this year when water level might have gone down.
Reacting, the chairman of the council, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya, said the construction of a bridge across River Gurara was among his campaign promises, and that he had reminded the minister about it.
He said the council had some few months ago, donated speed boats to Mawogi community as a palliative measure pending when the minister would award the contract for the construction of the bridge across the river.