The Ganaja-Lokoja-Ajaokuta road in Kogi State has become a major thorn in the flesh of residents and motorists. Created by the administration of the late Prince Abubakar Audu in 1992, residents said the road began to deteriorate 10 years ago, and they are now faced with hazards, especially dust during the dry season and flooding in the rainy season.
For several years, the seven-kilometre Ganaja-Lokoja-Ajaokuta road in the Lokoja metropolis has become an eyesore, causing a lot of hardship to motorists plying the route. Residents around that part of Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State, said they were faced with hazards of dust and flooding due to the deteriorating state of the road.
Ahmed Ojogbane, a resident of the Ganaja area said, “It is like the gods have cursed us. Our houses are always covered in dust, causing environmental and health hazards to us. Cases of asthma among residents have increased over the years. In the rainy season we encounter perennial flooding around that particular portion of the road, which is at the area of the confluence of River Niger/ River Benue.”
Corroborating Ojogbane are most motorists and commuters who ply the route to their various destinations. They bemoaned the hardship experienced at the worst area, which is just a kilometre.
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James Egbunu, a driver from the eastern part of the state, who plies the route daily, said accidents were frequent in the area. “I visit my mechanic almost weekly to repair my vehicle. All the money one would have made during the week’s struggle is lost to repairs. It is a nightmare we have come to grapple with for years now,” he said.
Equally, motorists from the South South and South East who use the route to the northern part of the country and the Federal Capital Territory said the state of the road portrayed the state in a bad light.
“Any time I am approaching Lokoja from that axis, I get upset because I have to negotiate through that bad portion. And the effect on my vehicle and the numerous accidents I have witnessed there are enough to trigger a rebellion against those in power,” George Acholonu, who claimed to have frequented the route for more than five years said.
To buttress the incessant accident claims by motorists and residents, Daily Trust Saturday gathered that recently, a commercial motorcyclist and his passenger were crushed by an articulated vehicle while trying to negotiate out of the bad portion of the road near the Ganaja roundabout.
Giving a historical account of the road, Mr Festus Isaac Ainoko, a retired Director of Speech in the State Government House, Lokoja, said the road was created as a child of necessity in 1992.
Ainoko, who claimed to have worked with the late Prince Audu and three other governors, said the then administration saw it as expedient to create an alternative route to Ajaokuta-Adogo-Okene-Lokoja route to stem its associated challenges to travellers. He added that following the survey by the Prince Audu administration, Ajaokuta -Lokoja route via Ganaja village, with just about a 26-minute drive to Lokoja, was discovered to be the best option to that of Ajaokuta-Adogo-Okene-Lokoja, which took over two hours.
Based on this discovery, he explained that a feeder road was created from Ganaja to Lokoja to link up with one of the network of roads created by the iron and steel company at Ajaokuta, which feeds the main highway that runs towards the eastern part of the state.
Residents, however, said the road was in good condition until 10 years ago when some seven kilometres from the Ganaja junction to the village roundabout began to deteriorate.
Our correspondent observed that the worst part of the road is located a few metres from the 500 housing units to the Ganaja village roundabout.
Nuhu Abubakar, an engineer, architect and consultant in Lokoja, who claimed to have worked with many construction companies, said the company that handled the job failed to reinforce the topography of that area with the necessary granites. This, he said, was because the area was known to be water-logged. Abubakar added that such an oversight by the construction company may have contributed to the total collapse of the road at the Lugard Beach area of the metropolis.
Residents wonder why the government has not been able to fix the road, given its significance and proximity to many hospitality businesses and government agencies.
Sylvester Ajodo, who owns a shop in the area said, “The route has an array of hospitality business outfits, offices of federal and state government agencies.
“We have an estate for state commissioners, House of Assembly members, 200 and 500 housing units for the civil servants and other very important business outfits. We expect these people to use their statuses to find a permanent solution to this challenge.”
In the same vein, Gift James, a hair dresser in a makeshift kiosk in the metropolis, said such important road should not have been treated with a wave of the hand but given proper attention to boost socio-economic activities in that flank of Lokoja.
She urged the government to repair the road so as to ease the present predicament of commuters.
However, as the outcry over the deplorable condition of the road deepens, the Kogi State Government said it would not rest on its oars until it is fixed.
The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Works in the state, Emmanuel Audu, an engineer, speaking to Daily Trust Saturday, said government had rehabilitated the road from Ganaja junction flyover to the bridge after Dunamis Church to ease the gridlock in that area.
He said the federal government awarded the rehabilitation of the Ganaja-Lokoja seven-kilometre road in late 2020 to stem the hardship experienced by motorists and residents.
He, however, added that while work was in progress, a circular emanated in December 2021 from the federal government, directing all the contractors handling its road rehabilitation across the state to finish or stop work. According to him, armed with this circular, the contractors handling the repair work on the road left and have not returned.
He noted that with the contractors out of the site for almost a year, the condition of the road got worse, making it a deathtrap as accidents are recorded frequently.
“The state government wrote to the federal controller of works in Lokoja on August 23, 2022, demanding to know the way forward on the rehabilitation work since the contractors had abandoned the site,” he said.
He explained that in the response letter of the federal controller of works dated September 1 and signed by Jimoh Kajogbola, an engineer, it was stated that efforts to bring back the contractors to site, particularly the one handling route 45(33) at the Lugard Beach Hotel to Ganaja village roundabout failed.”
Our correspondent who had access to the letter reports that the field controller explained that the determination of the federal government to finish the rehabilitation work on time made it to “tactically divide the road to sections,” since their move for a single contractor to carry out repair of the seven-kilometre road failed to get the approval of the headquarters in Abuja.
The letter stated that the contract for the rehabilitation work on route 45(33) was awarded on December 27, 2019 to Messrs Bugabi Construction Engineering Limited, but due to nonperformance, his contract was terminated and re-awarded to Messrs Rufelis Investment Limited in early 2021.
The letter also stated that the failed portion had reached 43 per cent completion when the contractor abandoned the site, exposing the area to flooding.
The permanent secretary, Audu, said the Ministry of Work had written a letter of reminder to the federal controller of works, dated December 8, 2022, informing them of increased incidents of health hazard and accidents in the area.
As the Kogi State Government awaits the response of the federal government on the state of the road, residents and motorists told Daily Trust Saturday that there is the need to expedite action to avoid more health hazards and accidents.
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