FCT And Gbagalape Link Road

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) deserves commendation for the swift manner it has intervened to rehabilitate and reconstruct the once dilapidated road linking Gbagalape community to the Nyanya/Keffi express way in the FCT. Before now, that road was so bad that it was referred to as the gully of death due to a huge gully that was threatening to split the road into halves. But thanks to the ongoing construction works by the current FCTA, residents of the Gbagalape community who hitherto went through anguish to connect to the other side of the gully can now heave a sigh of relief as the only road connecting the community to the FCT mainland is nearing completion.

Any visitor to Gbagalape now will observe that the road is so smooth that the residents are actually beckoning on government to install speed breakers and other safety devices to tame the recklessness of Okada and other vehicles that have now turned the road to a race track; a stark contrast to what once obtained in the past where the point of the gully would usually signal the end of the journey to Gbagalape when the situation was so bad.

Thanks to efforts of the FCTA, the road has now been levelled and asphalted with the gully filled up, to the delight of residents who now refer to the erstwhile death trap as “the slope of life.” The repair of this road no doubt has rekindled the economic and social lives of the community which is now witnessing a burst of estate development and commercial life. Formerly referred to as the “Valley of Death,” the nearly two kilometre Gbagalape road which is the major economic road was hewed apart by a deep gully that was so slippery that it would amount to a death dive to try crossing it in the past, especially when it rained. The only option left to the commuter was to suspend the journey and wait until the road dried up to continue or trek some two kilometre distance to their point of their destination.

As a result, a journey that should not last more than five minutes’ drive to and from Nyanya, most of the time, turned into hours as motorists were either forced to park their vehicles and continue the journey by foot, or subjected to several unnecessary diversions in search of safe routes. Commercial bike riders also cashed in on this to charge many times the standard rate. From the popular Nyanya/ Mopol junction, any Okada that agreed to pick you will charge you heavily between N200 to N300 for a journey that should cost no more than N100 because, to them, Gbagalape was the anathema that should be avoided at all cost.

But all of that is changing now with the major upturn in the fortunes of this road. The agonies of Gbagalpe residents have now been replaced by swansongs and their leaders have been very effusive in their praise of the FCT Administration.

The Chairman, Gbagalape Community Development Association, Wale Ajibode, has described the work as super miracle. Other residents who doubted that the road would be successfully completed, considering the extent of damage done by years of erosion and neglect, have also had to swallow the humble pie.

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