Niger roads: Another disaster looming as youths mount road blocks

The associated risks of the bad roads across Niger State may be assuming another dimension as it is observed that hoodlums may soon take advantage of the state of the roads to cause more discomfort for road users. All roads – both federal and state in Niger State, are now death traps to motorists that […]

The associated risks of the bad roads across Niger State may be assuming another dimension as it is observed that hoodlums may soon take advantage of the state of the roads to cause more discomfort for road users.

All roads – both federal and state in Niger State, are now death traps to motorists that ply those roads on a daily basis.

The rehabilitation work on the 82km Minna-Bida road was awarded to Dantata and Sowoe in February this year at the cost of N23.4bn with a completion period of 18 months.

Seven months later, only about five percent of the work has been achieved, and the construction company attributed the slow pace of work to the heavy volume of traffic, especially the constant presence of trailers, trucks and other articulated vehicles on the route.

The slow pace of work led the state government to close the road to trailers, tankers and other articulated vehicles last month.

The state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, who personally supervised the closure of the road at the Bida end at a brief ceremony, said the decision to close the roads to these categories of vehicles was to allow the construction company handling the rehabilitation work to speed up the job.

The governor, who was in company of members of the state Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Committee, headed by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Malam Ibrahim Balarabe, personally pulled down the iron barricades to signal the official closure of the road at Bida, and appealed to the public to cooperate with the government as the decision was not a deliberate one but for the good of all, including those affected.

Other state roads closed alongside the Minna-Bida road include Lapai-Paiko, Chanchaga Bridge-Maikunkele, Muye-Lapai and Zungeru-Wushishi roads.

The governor pointed out that the decision to close these roads was taken after series of meetings with relevant stakeholders following complains by the construction company handling the rehabilitation work over the activities of the heavy-duty vehicles on the road.

The government assured that the restriction of articulated vehicles on the state-owned roads would be effective “because series of critical stakeholders’ meetings have been held and the stakeholders are in support of the decision, stressing that the closure only affects the state-owned roads.”

The road, according to some of the truck drivers who witnessed the official closure, was last attended to over 20 years ago, saying that they are in full support while hoping that the restriction will bring about the desired result.

A trailer driver, Yusuf Ahmed, who was coming from Bauchi State but caught up in the barricade in the presence of the governor, said he couldn’t meet the deadline because of an accident on the road which delayed his journey but appealed for consideration.

Unfortunately, two days after the closure of the road, tanker drivers barricaded the Bida-Minna road junction in Bida linking Lambata and Suleja, while the petrol tanker association also threatened to stop loading fuel to the north over the closure.

They appealed to the government to allow those caught up to pass to their various destinations.

The state government later bowed to pressure from the federal government to reopen the road and since then, life has been hell for commuters and others plying the roads daily.

A visit to some of these roads shows that nothing is being done to ease the stress motorists pass through.

The Minna-Bida journey of 83kms which is not up to an hour, now lasts for 7 hours if one is lucky while Lambata-Lapai-Bida road is worse than other roads in the state.

Commuters are resorting to self help to be able to pass through those roads while some of the drivers and motor boys have started mounting road blocks to extort money from those plying the routes.

Along Lambata-Lapai-Bida road, there are more than 30 road blocks; most of them set up by truck drivers who are stuck and stranded on the road.

Between Lapai and Agaie, a little portion of the road is left for smaller vehicles and cars to pass but not without parting with little amount before passing.

One of the truck drivers, who has been on the road for close to a month, Hassan Bala, told our correspondent that he had been on the same spot for three weeks without moving an inch.

“We came up with the decision to mount road blocks and get money from drivers so that we can get little change to feed ourselves. Ordinarily, my journey was supposed to last for three days but I have spent three weeks already without knowing when I will leave here,” he lamented.

Another driver, Haruna Muhammed, said he is scared of another disaster as some of the petrol tankers among them may explode if they didn’t offload their contents on time because the contents are not supposed to stay long in the tank.

Same thing was observed along Minna-Bida road. This time, there are no road blocks on the road but obstruction by trucks that got stuck on the muddy road.

These drivers moved around with diggers to fill certain portions of the road to be able to continue with their journey and for those that got stuck, they part with certain amount for the motor boys and villagers that help push out vehicles.

Ndaliman Yusuf, a driver along Minna-Bida road, told our correspondent that the problem has really take a toll on his earning since he can only ply the road once instead of the three to four trips daily, he used to make before the road got bad.

“I now spend 7 hours from Minna to Bida instead of one hour. Initially, it was 3 hours journey we were complaining about but now most drivers like me who have been plying the road for long spend at least 14 hours to and fro,” he said.

Yusuf added that drivers of his kind of car pay N200 whenever their car got stuck and was pushed out by the motor boys and villagers around while others pay as much as N500.

There is palpable fear and anxiety that hoodlums may start kidnapping people on that road if nothing is done on time as different kinds of people always gather in about four of the worst spots along Minna-Bida road.

At Gidan Biri along Minna-Suleja road, same situation was observed as motorists parted with certain amount of money before they could pass. Some youths are also always on ground to help push out cars that are stuck in bad portions, for a fee of course.

The fear of some motorists along Lapai-Agaie road came to pass as five persons were reportedly burnt to death while several others sustained various degrees of injuries in the fire incident that occurred in the early hours of Tuesday along Lapai-Agaie road.

Meanwhile, at least seven vehicles were also burnt while five persons were seriously burnt with four others sustaining minor burns in the accident that occurred around 4am Wednesday.

The Director General Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Alhaji Ibrahim Inga, during his visit to the scene of the accident in Lapai, described it as devastating.

Inga explained that prompt intervention by two fire fighting vehicles from Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai and one from Agaie Local Government Area had helped to stop further spread of the fire and additional loss of lives.

An eye witness, Musa Sani, told our reporter that the incident occurred around 4am on Monday along Lapai Agaie highway when an overzealous tanker driver tried to overtake a tanker carrying fuel and his brake failed and he hit the tanker which exploded instantly.

Inga further said that another tanker laden with fuel fell close to the Lapai Local Government Area secretariat, with the fuel emptied on the major road.

He said members of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Road Safety, Fire Service and Chairmen of Lapai and Agaie local government areas were trying to provide a solution to the problem to avoid further calamity that may arise from the fuel spillage.

An eye witness, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that they were relieved that another tanker carrying gas did not explode during the incident.

Meanwhile some youths in Lapai Local Government Area have threatened to block the road from tanker drivers to reduce frequent accident by such drivers on Lapai-Agaie road.

It was gathered that the executive chairman of Katcha Local Government Area has ordered the filling of the bad portion at Mai wayyo along Minna/Bida road. He ordered for hardcore stones to fill the bad portions to ease the pain of road users.