Motorists plying Kano-Jigawa border lament road closure

Road users travelling between Kano and Jigawa States on Maiduguri Road are suffering due to the closure of a bridge on the road linking the states. 

The bridge located at Tsamiyar Bakin Gada, a few kilometres away from Kwanar Huguma, a border town between Kano and Jigawa, has been closed for almost three months thereby redirecting the road users to other routes. 

Kano Chronicle recalls that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on August 30 issued a statement in Kano notifying the closure of the bridge, which it said was temporary, following damage to the bridge by a heavy rainstorm. 

It added that the extent of the damage became a serious safety threat to motorists plying the route. 

Therefore, the Corps advised that traffic be diverted to alternative routes such as Birnin Kudu (College of Nursing junction- through Kengere Village-through Dutse- Kwana Huguma Road), as a temporary solution pending completion of the reconstruction work on the damaged bridge by the federal ministry of works. 

But some users, who insist on taking the damaged route, have to go down under the bridge and pay N500 to some youths to push their vehicles through the river. 

Speaking on the hardship motorists are facing due to the closure, a commercial driver, Ashiru Sani said the effect was enormous because the diverted routes were unfavourable to them. 

“If we have to go round through the available alternative routes, we have to charge commuters more and they hardly agree. Second, one spends more time on the road. For someone going to Birnin Kudu, just 20 kilometres away from the bridge, he has to go an extra 30 to 50 kilometres”, he said. 

Also lamenting on the risky practice of going through the river to get across to the other end, Ma’aruf Dalhatu said: “It is too risky for our vehicles to be pushed through a river like this, one can get across and the vehicle may not start”. 

A female passenger, who does not want her name in print, called on the Kano and Jigawa State governments to intervene by calling the attention of the federal ministry of works to expedite work on the damaged bridge. 

Efforts to get a reaction from the Federal Controller of Works in Kano, Engineer Yahaya Baba Ali were unsuccessful as calls to his lines were rejected and a text message sent to him with details of the enquiry was marked delivered but not responded to as of press time.