Deplorable roads take toll on Minna residents
The deplorable condition of major roads linking Minna town is adversely affecting activities within the ancient town and environ, North Central Trust reports.
Four major roads, MinnaSuleja highway, Minna-Bida, Minna-Munya-Kaduna and Minna-Zungeru-Tegina, link the town to the outside world.
With the exception of MinnaBida road the other three are federal government roads.
With high volume of traffic, dominated by articulated vehicles, occasioned by the deplorable condition of other federal roads, which have hitherto served as alternative routes, there has been immense pressure around Minna-Suleja and Minna-Bida axis, triggering gridlock in the areas.
Civil servants and other residents whose workplaces and schools are within those entry points spend long hours trying to get to their destinations daily.
The Minna-Bida axis boasts of two major federal institutions-the Federal University of Technology and the National Examination Council (NECO) and quite a number of schools and private businesses, while institutions like the College of Education, Minna, headquarters of the Nigeria Army Training and Doctrine Command and other military offices and even barracks as well as many other state and federal establishments are located on the Minna-Suleja axis.
Our correspondent reports that for about five days now, workers and students had trouble accessing their offices and schools, while motorists leaving and coming into Minna through the Minna-Suleja axis are having hectic time because of its deplorable condition and activities of tankers and trailers drivers.
Few days ago, a fuel tanker carrying 33,000 liters of petrol almost overturned when it was brushed by another fuel tanker opposite the College of Education.
The development stalled movement of vehicles to and from Minna with some motorists spending four to five hours in the gridlock, while residents living and doing businesses around the Chanchaga axis were completely cut off.
The gridlock stretched several kilometres on both sides with passengers trekking long distances to escape the mayhem.
Our correspondent noticed that gridlock has continued to build up around the failed portions up till now with students and workers opting to trek through the chaotic area to get to their destinations.
An NCE II student of the COE Minna, Habiba Enegi, who lives off campus, told North Central Trust that she has now learnt to get up earlier than usual to be able to meet up with her lectures.
“The last four days have been stressful for us. I learnt this is a federal road but the federal government chooses to look the other way despite the suffering citizens go through every day on this and other roads across the state.
“Daily, we go through trauma because of accidents occasioned by the recklessness of the truck drivers, especially with our school so close to the failed portions. There have been fuel spillages recently and if not for the quick intervention of the fire service, the magnitude of the destruction would have been high,” she said.
She appealed to the federal government to complement the state government’s effort by releasing money to contractors handling the project to enable them complete it in time.
A commercial driver, Abdullahi Nura lamented that government appeared not to be interested in the sufferings of the people living along the Minna – Suleja road.
“It is unfortunate that the federal and state governments have not given desired attention to this portion of the road,” he noted.
The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, Mrs Mary Noel Berje said the situation has been giving the state government sleepless nights with resources which are supposed to be channeled into improving the living standard of the people being sunk into what is clearly a federal government’s responsibility.
``The state government has spent billions in the reconstruction of the MinnaSuleja road in the past few years, but each time it is fixed, articulated vehicles destroy it,’’ she said.
“The life span of the road is already expired, even the design life span is obsolete. And so, the state government is reconstructing the roads. We have finished the 30 kilometer Kwakuti-Lambata road, and now we are facing the KakaakiMinna,” she explained.
She however called on the Federal Government to expedite action on not just the Minna-Suleja highway, but other federal roads in the state, while also urging it to put up measures towards regulating the activities of tankers and trailer drivers especially as it relates to overloading and reckless driving.