Residents lament deplorable Kutara-Madani road

Residents of Kutara in Gurdi ward of Abaji Area Council in the FCT have expressed concern over the deplorable state of the road linking the village to Madani. They said the road, which links various communities up to Yaba, had been causing hardship to them especially farmers who transport their farm produce to Abaji market. […]

Residents of Kutara in Gurdi ward of Abaji Area Council in the FCT have expressed concern over the deplorable state of the road linking the village to Madani.

They said the road, which links various communities up to Yaba, had been causing hardship to them especially farmers who transport their farm produce to Abaji market.

The Madaki of Kutara, Samuel Dangana, who  spoke  to Aso Chronicle, said lack of access road had been one of the major challenges facing residents of the community and other neighbouring villages in the area.

He said the deplorable state of the road was affecting local farmers the most as they find it difficult to transport their farm produce to the market at Abaji or Kwali.

He noted that the road, which also leads to Yaba village, was graded about six years ago, but that some portions had been washed away by erosion while most of the culverts which were built some years back have also collapsed.

He said residents suffer most during the rainy season because of the streams along the road, adding that motorcycles hardly crossed the streams whenever there was heavy down pour.

He said the village chief always mobilised elders and youths during the dry season to repair some bad portions of the road before farmers could move their farm produce to the market.

The madaki said some residents were sometimes forced to do a detour through the Kpango-Mayaki road in Niger State, before they could arrive Kwali market.

“In fact, virtually all our people here in this village, including the Tiv farmers, have difficulty getting out of the village because of the state of the road.

Now, as we are about to enter the rainy season, we are beginning to be worried because when rain sets in fully, people cannot travel out of this village any more as all the streams along the road will be filled up while erosion will degrade the road further,” he said.

He also complained about lack of a clinic at the village, saying patients always travelled to Yaba or neighbouring Bari-Bari village to seek for medical care.

Dangana said his people only survived with the grace of God during rainy season, saying they mostly depended on traditional herbal medicine when the road became impassable during the rainy season.

He also said the community lacked access to potable water, a situation he added had caused untold hardship to his people especially during the dry season.

He said the only source of water at the village was River Gurara, which he said posed health risk to their lives.

“There was a borehole with an overhead tank which was provided by the MDGs about seven years ago, but it broke down just a week after it was commissioned. I came to discover that some thieves came at night and removed the submersible pump,” he said.

The madaki said he had complained severally to successive administrations of the council on the need to repair the borehole, but nothing has been done about it.

He, therefore, appealed to the authorities of the council to come to their aid by constructing culverts across streams on the road, and for the rehabilitation of the broken down borehole at the village.

He also requested the council chairman to construct a clinic at the community to ease the suffering of residents.

Also, residents of Kwakwa community of the council had decried lack of pipe-borne water in the village.

The village chief of the community, Dauda Jatau, stated this after he ordered one of his palace aides to convey our reporter to a dry stream where women dig out sand to scoop water.

The chief said lack of pipe-borne water had been their major challenge, adding that the only MDGs boreholes with head tank which were sank for the community   about seven years ago had since broken down.

He said after the borehole was commissioned, some hoodlums came at night to remove the submersible pump and  his people had been suffering for water ever since.

He said even the river was far from the community, and men who wanted to wash their clothes rode motorcycles to River Gurara.

He said the water situation is worst at the peak of the dry season as all the streams the village depended on dodry up. 

He added that lack of access to potable water in  the village had affected the health of his people, especially children, who  fall sick frequently infected with water-borne diseases.

“It is only God that is saving my people because even if anybody falls sick here, there is no hospital to go to. So we depend mostly on traditional herbal medicine,” he said.

He also said the community lacked a clinic, adding that people who fall sick always travelled to Kwali or Abaji to seek treatment. He said that patients sometimes travelled far to Gawu in Niger State for medical treatment.

He also said the community primary school lacked enough teachers, claiming that only two teachers were teaching 120  pupils, and that the classrooms were in a dilapidated state.

The traditional ruler further said the deplorable state of the road to the village from Abaji town had been a nightmare, noting that his people hardly travel out of the village in the rainy season.

“We are always cut off every rainy season here in this community as the road becomes impassable while water takes over all the streams on the road,” he said.

Jatau said he always mobilized his subjects to come out en-mass and vote during elections, but that his people have continued to remain without social amenities that will impact on their lives.

“In fact, the only time we see our politicians in this village is during electioneering campaign. After I mobilize my people to vote for them, you will never see them again until another election comes again,” he said.

He therefore appealed to the authorities of the council to rehabilitate the broken down borehole to cushion the effects of water scarcity at the community.

He called for additional class teachers and grading of the road and construction of a bridge across the road to reduce the suffering of the residents especially at the peak of the rainy season.

When contacted, the Chairman of Abaji Area Council, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya, said the council had already captured the grading of some rural roads and construction of bridges as well as repair of all grounded boreholes across the villages in the council.