The Nation Newspaper

Tag: road

  • ‘N70b needed to complete East West road’

    ‘N70b needed to complete East West road’

    About N70 billion is required to complete the East-West road, according to Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Niger Delta Warman Ogoriba.

    The lawmaker, who spoke at the House of Representatives Press Corps’ Interview series “Hot Seat”, at the weekend, also expressed the resolve of the House in ensuring sufficient provision in the 2015 budget to complete the project.

    His words: “We will again look at the reports submitted by the contractors, such as Setraco, RCC to see what updates they have. But for the budget, I think what we need to finish the East-West road in 2015 is about N60 to N70 billion.

    “And it depends on how much we get from the budgetary allocation for 2015 as well as SURE-P intervention. That is when we will know if the road will be delivered by then. But besides that, work has gone very far and we believe it will continue like that till the end”.

    While giving update on the public hearing on the ongoing developmental projects in the oil producing states, the lawmaker expressed displeasure over the complacency of some contractors towards the developmental projects.

    He added that the public hearing by his committee revealed that some contractors were not taking the projects seriously.

    He threatened that zero allocation would be given in next year’s budget to contractors, who failed to appear before the committee as well as those indicted for poor performance by the ministries of Niger Deta and Environment.

  • Okene-Ajaokuta-Itobe Road: Haven for robbers

    Okene-Ajaokuta-Itobe Road: Haven for robbers

    The rate at which most federal roads across the country are deteriorating has become a source of concern. Nigerians have been calling on Federal Government to fix them, especially the Okene/Ajaokuta/Itobe Road that has become a haven for robbers. JAMES AZANIA reports

    Motorists and other users of the Okene/Ajaokuta/Itobe Roadm, in Kogi State, have been going through harrowing experiences of late. The road occupies a very important position as it links the North with the Eastern parts of the country.

    During its good days, travelling from Okene to any of the states in the East took less hours. The road was smooth, making the journey easy and comfortable.

    Unfortunately, the once-smooth road has become a nightmare. It cuts across three local government areas of Okene, Ajaokuta and Ofu.

    Travellers on the road are daily afraid of robbers because of the bad nature of the road which was constructed in the mid-1980s; and currently ranks among the worst federal road in Kogi State. The road has, in recent times, claimed several lives, including prominent personalities of the state and others who plied the road.

    The Kabba-Isanlu-Egbe-Ilorin Road is yet another terribly bad road in the state as well as the Kabba-Okene Road, which links Kogi and Kwara states. The road traverses Kabba-Bunu, Yagba West and Ijumu local government areas.

    Investigations by our correspondent revealed that fatal accidents occur on these roads almost daily, forcing several people to avoid it. Those who now ply the road are those without alternative routes to their destinations. Some of the critical accidents that have been recorded on the road within the last two months included the one involving the member representing Ajaokuta Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Sadiq Mohammed, which reportedly claimed the life of five persons. Mohammed survived the crash.

    On September 3, this year, the immediate past Commissioner for Education in Kogi State, Mrs. Grace Elebiyo, died in a motor accident on the Kabba-Okene Road, another federal road begging for government’s attention.

    Before her death, she was said to have been on the entourage of Governor Idris Wada’s “thank you” tour to Kabba. The member of the House of Representatives was also said to be returning from one of such “thank you tours” to Ajaokuta.

    Special Adviser to the Chairman of Ajaokuta Local Government Area Ibrahim Obansa said the deplorable condition of the roads is a source of concern to residents of the local government, pointing out that the horrible situation is having adverse effect on the economy of the local government.

    He said: “The road has become a very serious concern to us, as stakeholder and motorist who ply the road, because the road is in a very sorry state; there are potholes that are as deep as gullies.

    “Men of the underworld use the bad portions of the road as cover or hideout to rob, maim and sometimes even kill unsuspecting commuters. The chairman of the local government area and other groups, have written and visited the Federal Ministry of Works and Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA). The visits were aimed at imploring the Federal Government to come to our aid. The road is very critical and key to the Nigerian economy.

    “Remember that the road leads to Ajaokuta Steel Company and two integrated power plants (Geregu I and II). People coming from South-South, South West and the North Central states make use of the road. The deteriorating condition of the road has affected economic activities on the routes.

    “So, we are appealing to Mr. President to direct the relevant agencies to reconstruct the road as a matter of urgency. We want the road reconstructed because some parts have collapsed completely. It needs reconstruction, complete reconstruction.”

    A commercial driver, Samuel Unekwu who plies the road said it has simply become a nightmare, even as he urged government to come to their rescue by putting the road in good condition.

    He said: “As a result of the bad condition of the road, we have to take our vehicles to mechanic workshops all the time. You can’t see any good vehicle plying the road.

    “We have complained to the relevant authorities for several times. We have begged local government, even the Federal Government to alleviate the suffering of the people by fixing the road, but nothing has happened. Added to the problem of bad road is that robbers have taken over the whole route. It is not their fault; they operate anytime they like; nobody is safe. What have we done to them? Government has completely abandoned us and we are now helpless.”

    The Head of the Kogi Office of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, Mr. Kayode Emmanuel could not be reached for comment on why the agency has failed to rehabilitate the road and other federal roads across the state.

    However, a credible source within the agency in Lokoja told our correspondent that the Okene-Ajaokuta-Itobe Road may not receive government’s attention in a long time to come. The source, who spoke in confidence because he was not permitted to speak on the matter, said the agency simply don’t have the amount of money required to repair the road and other roads in the state.

    “Do you know when FERMA was created? Do you know when that road was built? Did you know that that road has become a death trap before the formation of FERMA? FERMA’s mandate is to maintain federal roads. We work in synergy with the Federal Ministry of Works. The ministry’s responsibility is to rehabilitate federal roads and hand it over to FERMA.

    “FERMA is aware of the bad condition of that road. The agency could have repaired it long ago, but it doesn’t have the amount of money required to fix the over-112 kilometer road which stands at about N3 billion. If you know the mandate of FERMA, you will realise that the road is beyond the agency’s mandate. It is within the purview of the Federal Ministry of Works to undertake reconstruction work on the road.

    “It requires reconstruction not rehabilitation, because the road has collapsed totally, and that one falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Ministry of Works.”

    Coming from the Ganaja axis, sharp curves dot the road, even as fallen containers and overturned trucks have become a daily sight along the road. Sections around Adogo, headquarters of Ajaokuta Local Government Area have completely collapsed.

    The President-General, Igbo Community in Kogi Central, Chief Joseph Anakwe regretted that the dilapidated state of the road is hampering business activities in the area.

    He said: “From the Okene/Auchi Junction, through the steel town of Ajaokuta, to Itobe in Ofu Local Government Area, the road is in a state of total disrepair, a situation that has made travellers victims of armed robbery attacks.”

    A resident of Adogo, Adiukwu said: “Hardly does 48 hours go by without a robbery incident reported. Bandits operate freely without fear of being apprehended. We are begging the Federal Government to come to our rescue”.

  • Residents cry out over bad road

    Residents cry out over bad road

    Residents of  Zuba in Gwagwalada Council have cried out to the council authorities to come to fix the ‘water logged’ road along Zuba Park area. The bad state of  the road, they said, has made vehicular movement difficult.

    Some of the residents who spoke to our correspondent said due to lack of drainage in the area and the potholes on the road, it has always been over flooded, especially during rainy days.

    Narrating her ordeal on the road, a traveller, Aisha Zuba, stated that she was on a commercial motor cycle going to the park to board a vehicle to Kano and she and the motor cyclist fell into the dirty water because of  the bad road.

    “He fell on top of  his bike and I fell too. I thank God that nothing happened to both of us, only little bruises. The most annoying thing was that my bag fell into a pool of mud. My clothes were soaked. I had to cancel the journey. Seriously, something needs to be done about the road,” she said.

    One of the traders at the International Market, Zuba, Igwe Emeka said the road was getting worse by the day. He called on the council authorities to fill the potholes as it will make movement easier.

    Another resident, Chikodili Nze said the maintenance of  the road will enhance the development of the market thereby generating revenue for the government.

    “Wherever there is a market, it is necessary that the road leading to it should be motorable. We bring in a lot of goods to the market in trucks. It is always a busy road. But since the road is bad, there is always traffic jam,” she said.

  • East West road to be ready by December, says Onolememen

    East West road to be ready by December, says Onolememen

    Minister of Works Mike Onolememen has said the East-West road will be completed by December.

    He said the road was 85 per cent completed.

    Onolememen, who spoke to reporters at his Benin City home, said 25,000km of roads belonging to the Federal Government were now in good condition.

    He said only 4,000km of the nation’s roads were in fair condition as at 2010, according to a study by the Department of International Development in the United Kingdom (UK).

    The minister said the East-West road was delayed because of funds and militants’ activities in the Niger Delta.

    Onolememen, who debunked insinuations that the Federal Government was playing politics with road development, said many things happened with the East West road that Nigerians were not aware about.

    He said: “The Ministry of Works initially awarded that contract in four sections in 2006. In the wisdom of then President Musa Yar Adua, he transferred that road to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. The funding challenge on that road started in 2006.

    “When that project was awarded, the mobilisation was not paid until 2008. Many Nigerians will not know this. When the mobilisation was paid, you recalled that the level of militancy was high and that drove Julius Berger out of site. They lost some workers.

    “Before the section where the company was doing could be rewarded, it took a long time and it was re-awarded to Sectraco. That is the only section that is outstanding as we speak. Niger Delta is one of the most difficult areas to build a road.”

    “What is more important is that it took Mr. President enough time to raise the kind of money needed to drive construction work on the East West road. Starting from October, the road will pick up and not because of electioneering. We have completed 62 roads. We want to create an unbroken chain of dual carriageways across the country.”

  • Students cry out over bad road

    Students cry out over bad road

    Students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti (ADO POLY) are worried over the road leading to the campus. They want the government to repair the road to reduce commuters’ hardship. TEMITOPE YAKUBU (ND II Quantity Surveying) writes.

    If only students and workers of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti (ADO POLY) knew their stay off-campus would be an unending nightmare, they would have preferred to live on campus.

    Reason: the road leading to the school is bad. Commuters experience hardship plying the road, which links the polytechnic from Matthew Roundabout. They are calling on the government to rehabilitate the road.

    The Poly Bus Stop stretch of the road, where commercial vehicles  pick and drop passengers is badly eroded. A section of the road is being washed away by erosion, which many blamed on lack of drainage. This axis is commuters’ nightmare because vehicles easily break down there.

    Most students who live off-campus come late for morning lectures because of the road. Commercial activity in the area has been affected by the situation, leading to the increase in price of commodities and services.

    The road is dotted with dangerous ditches and potholes, which are impossible for any vehicle to avoid. A move to dodge a pothole often leads drivers on a collision course with another vehicle. There have been accidents on the road, which involved students.

    The alternative means open to students is to ride motorcycles called Okada. But the recklessness of the riders is another problem commuters complain about.

    On the poor state of the road, Aanuoluwapo Omodara, a ND II Quantity Surveying student, said if the government can not repair the dilapidated sections of the road, it should expand the drainage channel to control the incidence of flood being experienced.

    He said that it would be futile to fill the potholes with sticky sand or gravel without having a proper drainage in place, saying the materials could be washed away during rainfall.

    Ridwan Atiku, ND II Marketing student, appealed to the Federal and state government to rehabilitate the road because of the untold hardship it has brought to road users, especially at night when vehicles with dim light can break down on it.

    Mr Adedotun Adeoye, a commercial driver, said the condition of the road made his bus to age fast. He saud: “The road has left our buses in bad shape. Government has forgotten us. We are begging them to come to our aid because they collect tax from us. The money we are paying to the local government is not yielding results as condition of the road deteriorates by the day.

    Adeoye said the bad road has not only crippled their business, but has also posed danger on their health.

    The Deputy Registrar, Protocol, Information and Passage Unit, Mr Adeyemi Adejolu, urged the government to repair the bad road to alleviate the suffering of the road users. He said that the poor state of the road had forced many car owners to incur extra maintenance costs on their cars.

     

  • Ogun community urges rehabilitation of road

    Ogun community urges rehabilitation of road

    Adalemo, a community in Ado/Odo-Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State are urging the state government to rehabilitate the community road.

    The Nation reporter, who visited the community, observed that the road was in a deplorable condition and has exposed road users to avoidable dangers.

    The road considered a major link to other communities has been abandoned by motorists and motorcyclists because of its poor condition. They have described it as death trap.

    Thus, perhaps makes motorcyclists charge abnormal fares because they are the only means of transportation on the road.

    Speaking with The Nation, one of the landlords in the community, Olufemi Jegede, stated that the road had become a major concern to the residents.

    He added that residents yearly contribute money to grade the road, using sand and pebbles at times to fill the potholes, which are washed away whenever there is rain.

    Jegede said the community is about contributing money again to ensure grading immediately the rain stops. But how long would they continue with this, is the question.

    “The road, as you see, needs big drainage on both sides and it will be difficult for the low income people leaving in the community to contribute money to do this. Definitely, we need government’s help”, Jegede said.

    Also speaking, Primate Omoleye, noted that as a result of these, many activities have been affected negatively, many lives and properties have also been lost.

    He said most of the pot holes on the road are so deep that each can swallow a car.

    “The community has tried to persuade the government; we have sent delegates to the state government some years back, unfortunately, all to no avail.

    “So we are therefore appealing Governor Ibikunle Amosun to come to our aid before erosion will seep us away”, Omoleye pleaded.

    Mrs Adebayo, a trader, lamented that she had been going through hell before she could stock her shop due to the nature of the road.

    She added that the her suppliers had stopped bringing goods because of the bad road and transporting crates of minerals, soft drinks and bags of pure water is a difficult task.

    She lamented that her husband, Mr Olugbenga Adebayo, a bank worker and landlord in the community had refused going out for long with his car due to the bad state of the road. “Driving car, especially small cars on this road, is like punishing and damaging the car. That the road is not encouraging anyone to drive cars and this is affecting businesses in the area.

    “We are appealing to the state government to rehabilitate the road as the rainy season is here,”

    Mr Salawu Gbamgbola, a resident and okada rider in the area, explained that the road had been in a state of disrepair for many years, said the people of the area were not comfortable with the situation.

    Salawu, said, riding okada in the road is not an easy task, “we are just managing it since there is no other means of living. New okada does not last more than six months before it become old. we are all live by drugs at the end of a day job or else, it won’t be easy to work next day.

    While appealing to the Ogun State government, residents explained that with the heavy rain being predicted this year, hard times are ahead if nothing is done to cushion the difficulties being experienced on the road.

  • IPMAN urges govt on road

    The Ogun State chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) urged yesterday the Federal Government to hasten the completion of the Ikorodu-Mosinmi-Sagamu Road, to ease transportation of petroleum products from its Mosinmi depot.

    The chairman, Alhaji Dele Tajudeen, who spoke with The Nation at Mosinmi in Ogun State, said he was disappointed the way the contractor handled the project.

  • Osun signs N10b road contract

    Osun signs N10b road contract

    Osun State has inked a N10 billion contract for the rehabilitation and construction of 224.6-kilometre rural roads.

    The Special Adviser to the Governor on Rural Development and Community Affairs, Mr. Kunle Ige, revealed this to reporters in Osogbo at the weekend.

    He said the project, tagged: Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP), is supported by the World Bank and French Development Project.

    Ige added that the two foreign organisations have contributed about 75 per cent of the fund while the government paid N2.5 billion counterpart funds, representing 25 per cent.

    The contract, according to him, has been awarded to Messrs Westmidland Construction Company Limited, Messrs Wetland Construction Nigeria Limited and Messrs Lee Fakino Nigeria Limited.

    Ige noted that among the participating four states – Adamawa, Osun, Enugu and Niger states – in the RAMP, Osun was the first to meet up with conditions for the signing of the contract, which would enhance access and mobility in the rural areas.

    The Special Adviser, who noted that the project would boost the state’s economy, said most of the roads to be constructed would lead to farm settlements.

    He added that the road project would make it convenient to transport agricultural produce to the cities after the completion of the roads.

    The governor’s aide said the contractors would be monitored to ensure that they carry out the project according to specifications.

  • 337 killed on Kaduna road

    337 killed on Kaduna road

    Three hundred and thirty seven people have died in road crashes in Kaduna State this year. About 1,528 were injured.

    The Kaduna Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Olu Mike Olagunju, spoke at the weekend at the launch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers’ (NURTW’s) membership identity in Kaduna.

    Olagunju said although the figure reduced compared to that of last year within the same period, it was still unacceptable.

  • Road accidents in Nigeria will remain high if………

    Daily reports in Nigeria are still pointing to the fact that the rate of road accidents (crashes) and fatalities is still disturbingly high.

    We should still remind ourselves of the recent rating of Nigeria as second to the last of 193 countries with high rates of road accidents.

    The truth I wish to categorically state here is that unless the issues I want to mention in this article are objectively considered and addressed, the rate of accidents and fatalities in Nigeria will continue to be on the rise.

    • Inadequate monitoring of the roads – There are some portion of intra and inter – State roads that have become death traps simply because the government officials responsible are not prompt in monitoring for quality construction by the Contractor or maintenance.

    • Misplaced priority – Evidences abound that Government (Federal and States) and their agencies have and are still misplacing priorities in issues relating to the safety of lives and properties. For example, in the whole country with a population of over 150 million people, there is no single standard driving range constructed  by the Federal Government, state government, Federal Road Safety Commission, Ministries of Transport, Ministries of Works nor by other agencies which the driving schools can use to train people how to drive or test candidates for Licence processing. Instead of focusing on this, the state governments are busy establishing drivers institute without driving range but just for income generation thereby limiting the opportunities that should have been available to driving schools to generate income, improve their standards, pay more taxes and make more impacts.  The Federal Road Safety Commission is also busy running around to companies to conduct training programmes for drivers, a function that the same Federal Road Safety Commission and the State Vehicle Inspection Departments certified the Driving Schools to perform. How many vehicles and drivers on Nigeria roads today passed the standards of the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Vehicle Inspection Officers? Why are they still moving about on the roads with impunity? The answer is not far fetched, the people to check and control them have been diverted by fund mobilisation for the governments and for personal pockets.

     

    • To be continued