Lawmakers urge Buhari to declare state of emergency on roads

By Tony Akowe, Abuja

The Niger State caucus in the National Assembly has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on federal roads across the state.

They said the roads have become a death trap to travellers across the state.

The caucus comprising three senators and 10 members of the House of Representatives, lamented the conditions of roads in the state, saying the dilapidated federal roads were impacting negatively on the socio-economic development of the state.

The leader of the caucus, who is the Deputy Majority Whip of the Senate, Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi Sabi, said: “We felt it is incumbent upon us to come and cry out with a view to getting attention that our state badly requires good roads at this time. As you all know, Niger State is the largest state in terms of land mass in Nigeria. The state is about 76, 363 kilometres square. With this, Niger State has the longest trunk A network of federal roads, spanning 2,365 kilometres of federal roads.”

The lawmakers said the state is “located in the North Central zone, and the implication of this is that if you’re coming from Northeast, Northwest, you will have to pass through Niger State, taking the trunk A2 from Kaduna down to Birnin Gwari, down to Tagina, to Mekirah down to Bokhani, Jebba–Mokwa before you exit in Kwara State.

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“In this same vein, if you’re going to Kebbi, Sokoto or Zamfara states, you now detour to Mekirah down to Katongora where you have two or three options of going through Bangui, Rhijau or you go through Yauri.

“Now going from Mokwa to Minna, you either go through Bida–Agaie–Lambata, which is the actual federal road, or through Bida–Minna, which is a state government road,” Sabi said.

He lamented that the roads, which were hitherto providing hot beds of commercial and tourism activities to Niger and all other states linked by them, have become death traps due to heavy rainfall and excess weight of high capacity trucks.

our due to this country and we deserve to be given something back.

“But if you fix the Suleja–Minna road without fixing the Makwa, Makerah, Bokhani down to Kaduna, as well as Bida–Agaie–Lambata roads, what you’re doing is that you’d be putting excess pressure on the only one that is good.

“So we’re convinced beyond reasonable doubt that beyond what’s happening under the budgetary provisions, we’re calling on Mr. President to please, do the needful for our people.”