FCT community seeks Wike’s intervention on bridge across River Gurara

Residents of the Ibwa II community in the Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT have called for the intervention of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike regarding the construction of a bridge across the Gurara River. The residents said they are frequently cut off from economic and social activities, especially at the peak of the rainy season. […]

Residents of the Ibwa II community in the Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT have called for the intervention of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike regarding the construction of a bridge across the Gurara River. The residents said they are frequently cut off from economic and social activities, especially at the peak of the rainy season.

Some residents who spoke when Abuja Metro visited the community on Sunday said they rely on the Gurara River to connect to the neighboring Ibwa and Dobi communities, noting that the lack of a bridge across the river remains their major challenge.

They explained that most of the inhabitants, who are peasant farmers, find it difficult to transport their crops to markets in Dobi and Gwagwalada due to the absence of a bridge.

Yakubu Adamu, a member of the community, said the lack of a bridge has denied locals access to both social and economic opportunities.

He added that farmers often lose their crops because they cannot transport their harvest to the market in Gwagwalada.

He noted that the construction of a bridge across the river would bring a huge sigh of relief to residents and allow the community to feel the impact of the government’s presence.

“I believe that if that bridge is constructed—especially seeing what the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has been doing in terms of infrastructure development—it would change everything. Since he has been able to construct the road from Paiko down to Ibwa I, we hope he can also construct the bridge linking Ibwa II,” he said.

A parent in the community, Mohammed Musa, said the lack of a bridge also affects senior secondary school students who must cross the river to attend classes in the Ibwa I community.

He said students are forced to remain at home whenever it rains because of heavy flooding, which severely disrupts their learning.

“We don’t have a senior secondary school here; we only have a junior secondary school. Whenever the senior students try to go to school in Ibwa I, they are often forced to turn back, especially during the rainy season when the river overflows,” he said.

Musa noted that while the community has some amenities—including a functional health center and a junior secondary school—the lack of a bridge remains a nightmare.

“As you can see, we have a functional health center and junior secondary school already. However, we still want to use this medium to appeal to the FCT Secondary Education Board to establish a senior secondary school for us in this community,” he added.

An official of the Works Department in the Gwagwalada Area Council, who preferred to remain anonymous, told our reporter that the council chairman had assured villagers during his campaign that he would liaise with the FCT Administration on the need for the bridge.

“The Chairman was at the community last week… where he told the crowd that the council will table the issue of the bridge before Wike after the election,” he said.