Jonathan’s two-year failed promise spreads fears over Sokoto bridge

Students, staff and communities around the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto (UDUS) are now living in apprehension as the rainy season sets in.  This is because President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is yet to fulfill his promise to reconstruct the only road linking the institution with Sokoto town, two years after it was cut off by a […]

Students, staff and communities around the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto (UDUS) are now living in apprehension as the rainy season sets in.  This is because President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is yet to fulfill his promise to reconstruct the only road linking the institution with Sokoto town, two years after it was cut off by a tsunami-like flood.

On September 9, 2010, at about 7.00pm, water overflowed the Goronyo dam as a result of torrential rains and cut off the main bridge that links the UDUS to the main Sokoto town.

Hundreds of students and the host communities were stranded, as they were caught in the flood. While those who went out of the institution to Sokoto town before the rainfall could not return, those who were inside the institution were trapped. They spent a whole night under this condition.

The following day, military boats and local canoes were deployed to facilitate the movement of students out of the institution and members of the host communities who were trapped outside their communities were assisted to reunite with their families. The evacuation of the trapped persons was done for days before the military authorities provided a temporary floating bridge to lessen the burden of communities.

The incident which happened during that year’s Sallah celebration, attracted the attention of many people including President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.  It was during one of his visits to the state that President Jonathan pledged to reconstruct the road. But two years after, he is yet to fulfil his promise. Months after the mishap, the Sokoto State government filled the washed areas with sand, as a temporary measure, but gradually, water has started to wash off the areas again, our correspondent observed.

Aside from linking the university to the main town, the UDUS bridge connects about seven local governments in Sokoto state to the state capital. Most of the inhabitants in these areas are farmers who rely solely on the bridge to convey their farm produce to the market. It also serves as the link between Nigeria and Niger Republic from Sokoto State. It was gathered that the bridge was constructed between 1975 and 1976 when the university was established, to accelerate the development of the rural farming communities.

The failure of the federal government to reconstruct the bridge is generating mixed reactions. Speaking to Sunday Trust, the Speaker of the students representatives assembly at UDUS, Abdallah Ahmed Tijani, said each time students cross the bridge, they always say their last prayers.

His words: “Each time we are on the bridge, we always say our last prayers because we don’t know when it will collapse. Now, the rainy season is around the corner. Anything can happen. We want the federal government to ensure the reconstruction of the bridge on time. UDUS is a very big institution, with over 15,000 students from different parts of the country. The federal government should do whatever it can to realise the reconstruction of this bridge in order to secure our lives.

“God forbid, but what will government say if the bridge collapses when any of our buses is on it? We have about 10 buses that shuttle between the institution and the town. Each of these buses carries between 50 and 60 students at a time,” he said. According to him, there were no casualties when the bridge was cut off in 2010 because most of the students had travelled home for the Sallah break at that time.

For the chairman, Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) of the university, Dr Lawal Abubakar, the federal government is gambling with the lives of students by foot-dragging on the reconstruction work, two years after the bridge was cut off.

“We were lucky at that time when the bridge was cut off because most of our students had travelled for Sallah celebration. But, even with that, it was a herculean task for us to evacuate the students. They were ferried out of the institutions with canoes. Though there were no deaths, we had many unreported boat mishaps. We are surprised that the federal government is yet to fulfill its promise two years after.

“In a few weeks from now, the rainy season will start in Sokoto State and the federal government is doing nothing to reconstruct the bridge. The rainy season will be at its peak when our students will be writing or preparing for their first semester examinations. If anything happens to students, their parents should hold the president responsible. We were meant to understand that the contract for the reconstruction of the road has been awarded. At one time, we spotted some construction workers doing a survey, but after that, nothing has been heard from them. This is a serious situation. Parents should join us in this struggle for the reconstruction of the bridge,” he said.

The district head of Dundaye, one of the host communities of the university, Alhaji Bello Yakubu, joined in the call on President Jonathan to fulfill his promise concerning the bridge, emphasizing that the bridge is the only link between his community and the state capital.

“We are afraid that the rainy season will soon start without the road and bridge being constructed. We are not praying for it, but what happened two years ago can repeat itself. So, this is why we are calling on the federal government to make haste and fulfill its promise. It’s a federal road. The road is not only used by Nigerians, it is serving the people of neighbouring Niger Republic,” he added.

A victim of the 2010 flood, Malami Kwalkwalawa, whose farmland and houses were washed away in the flood, decried the attitude of the federal and state governments towards the victims.

He lamented that, “The flood has come and gone, but I’m still counting my loss because out of the N500,000 that the government promised to pay each victim, only N30,000 was given to me. My houses and all my farms were washed away by the flood that year. I have left everything to Allah because I believe that anything that happened to me was from him, whether good or bad,” he said.

Lamenting the situation, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Riskuwa A. Shehu, said over 1,000 students were trapped on the campus when the bridge was cut off but that they were able to evacuate all of them safely without any casualty.

“The critical issue is to get the bridge repaired so that we can feel secured. We are hopeful that government will do something and we are following it up. We are worried about the situation of the bridge. The information reaching us is that the contract for the reconstruction of the road has been awarded to a company. The company came and mobilised but not much has been done on it, and I think it is because of the issue of budget. We have reported it to the minister and we are sure that with the new budget signed into law, the work will commence earnestly.

“Last year, there was rain and the bridge was not repaired but we survived. We rely majorly now on God. With prayers and efforts to keep the temporary arrangement, we are going to survive it. We are spending a lot of money to keep the temporary arrangement, especially to purchase filler sand.  We are going to survive it and nothing will stop the academic activities in the school. We are determined and I’m assuring you I will not accept defeat,” he said.