How motorists spend hours in Mararaba potholes

Motorists using the Abuja-Keffi highway continue to face agonizing delays around the Mararaba community in the Karu Local Government Area (LGA) of Nasarawa State. Abuja Metro reports that Mararaba town, which is densely populated due to its proximity to Abuja, is suffering from a lack of a good road network. This includes the major highway […]

Motorists using the Abuja-Keffi highway continue to face agonizing delays around the Mararaba community in the Karu Local Government Area (LGA) of Nasarawa State. Abuja Metro reports that Mararaba town, which is densely populated due to its proximity to Abuja, is suffering from a lack of a good road network. This includes the major highway which serves as a critical entry point to the nation’s capital.

Vehicles, including those that convey the hundreds of commuters who travel into Abuja for work in the morning and return to communities as far as Keffi in the evening, are frequently caught in gridlock in Mararaba.

When Abuja Metro visited the road at the weekend, motorists directly linked traffic gridlock to the numerous potholes on the road.

A trip that should take less than 30 minutes now lasts between three and four hours, leaving commuters exhausted and businesses drained.

The congestion is most severe along the one-kilometer stretch from Zenith Bank Junction through Building Materials to Sharp Corner U-turn, where potholes, flooding, and poor road design have turned daily travel into a nightmare.

A resident, Victor Balogun, said “I spend more than one hour from Mararaba to AYA, a journey that should take less than 10 minutes.

‘’From Mararaba to this checkpoint alone, we spend more than three hours. People are suffering on this road.”

A tricycle operator, Chinedu Valentine, described the situation as unbearable, urging government to act:

“The traffic is too much; people are stranded every day. Government should help us, we don’t know what to do again,” he pleaded.

A resident, Mustapha Sani, said there was jubilation last December when the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Works, awarded a contract for rehabilitating the expressway to Messrs China Harbour Engineering Co. Nigeria Limited.

He disclosed that the project commenced early this year from the area where the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) shares a boundary with Nasarawa State, starting with the lane leading toward Keffi.

He said the work has so far been executed around communities along that lane, including New Nyanya, Masaka, and Auta-Balaifi, with similar work progressing from the Keffi town axis. As a result, motorists now enjoy a hitch-free movement along the rehabilitated lane, but are unfortunately suffering “hell experience” on the opposite lane.

Mustapha listed about six notorious potholes along the affected lane in Mararaba town, starting around the Orange Market junction and moving to locations including: Shafa filling station, ECWA church U-Turn, Aso junction, Sharp-corner, and the Building Materials Market near Zenith Bank. He noted that all the listed locations are often flooded during the rainy season, forcing motorists to move slowly or even remain parked for extended periods.

Sani demanded that the construction company responsible for the project fast-track their work and make an emergency effort to fix the affected potholes to save motorists from unnecessary wastage of working hours.

He added that the situation is also affecting residents with emergency needs, such as those being taken to hospitals, as well as school students.

Sani also pointed out that motorists and commercial motorcyclists or tricyclists are causing accidents by driving against traffic (one-way or opposite direction) in an effort to avoid the gridlock.

 

Economic impact and commuter woes

Also speaking, a trader at the Building Materials Market in Mararaba town, Ayogwu Okudele, said the situation has caused them to lose patronage.

According to him, many customers can no longer afford to visit the market and are instead going to other neighboring markets within or outside the community.

He noted that many of their members have to engage the services of commercial motorcyclists when coming to or leaving the market to reach their destinations on time.

Our reporter gathered that commercial bikes are charging between N500 to N1,000 for a short trip from desperate clients who cannot afford to miss their appointments.

A commercial motorist operating along the road, Hassan Ogbola, said that drivers, on average, spend between one to two hours around the listed potholes alone and must visit a mechanic frequently to repair damaged parts.

He disclosed that he makes only about three round trips to Abuja on average days, lasting from morning until he closes in the evening, all under “difficult experience.”

Ya’u Adamu, the secretary of the Gravel and Sharp Sand Suppliers, Mararaba branch, linked the problem of the potholes to the absence of functional drainages and culverts around some portions of the road. He said their union previously used to volunteer by supplying gravel and stones to refill the potholes where necessary, but the situation has now grown beyond their capacity.