Army, Navy, Police, FCT, FRSC please clear the road at Kurudu market
The Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, Federal Road Safety Corps and relevant authorities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)-being they AEPB, development control or whatever agency responsible should please hurry to the Kurudu market along Nyanya-Karshi road to clear the highway of persistence inhibition of free movement constituted by traders who have developed the […]
The Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, Federal Road Safety Corps and relevant authorities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)-being they AEPB, development control or whatever agency responsible should please hurry to the Kurudu market along Nyanya-Karshi road to clear the highway of persistence inhibition of free movement constituted by traders who have developed the habit of encroaching on the road to sell their wares, and motorists who find usually find pleasure in parking at that very spot to enter the market or buy things along the road.
This has often resulted in ugly incidents with attendant threat to lives and property. The Nyanya-Kurudu road is always very busy with vehicles of all types cruising by-trucks, cars, tankers hurling petrol, tractors, motorcycles, commercial, private, school, hospital and company staff buses and cars, tricycles, refuse collectors and pedestrians all use the road from the Karu-Nyanya axis to the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and Nigeria Police housing estates in Kurudu and Karshi as well as those going farther than those areas. Besides, many school buses conveying children to and from schools in the area use the road.
The obstacle constituted by the traders and owners of vehicles at the Kurudu market does not only impede movement along that road but constitutes grave danger as a single mistake could result in huge casualties.
Only last Sunday, a Sienna van driven by a learner rammed into a stationary Honda car parked on the road just by the market with a woman and her children inside. The Honda car was parked along the road for the occupants to buy vegetables from the teeming girls selling right on the edge of the road. The Sienna rammed into the Honda and a passing refuse collector (mai bola), inflicting damages on both. In the ensuing confusion, many people gathered on the road, causing serious traffic hold up. If there was a sudden fire there, one can only imagine the extent of losses.
This calls for urgent action from the FCT authorities, and even the Nigerian Army, Navy and police who have residences nearby. Members and families of these organisations are being exposed to the dangers posed by the menace and this should be checked in time. Personnel of the Abuja Environmental Sanitation Agency (AEPB) usually go after roadside traders, dispossessing them of their wares, even when some of such traders do not constitute any serious danger to road users, therefore, it is expected of the agency to identify areas of urgent concern such as the Kurudu market road and move in there, especially at the rush hours in the morning and evening between 5pm and 8pm. Traders, especially teenage girls selling vegetables and other hawkers take advantage of the poor structure of the market to constitute traffic nuisance on the road, and encourage motorists to park right on the road to patronize them. There should be strict enforcement of relevant rules along that road. It gladdens my heart to know that many military officers, serving and retired as well as important personalities in various spheres of live in the nearby Nigerian Army Housing Estate and pass through the road daily, apart from the high population of ordinary people who equally ply the road. I am sure none of the aforementioned classes of people would like to stand the look of a petrol tanker running out of control into the market while members of their families are there carrying out their legitimate businesses. A stich in time saves nine.
Mitchell Chukwu writes from Kurudu, Abuja.