Oga Fashola, what’s the ‘sin’ of Nupe communities?

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday March 22, 2017 approved N80billion for road projects in 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who disclosed this to State House correspondents after the weekly FEC meeting explained that the projects are located in Adamawa, Taraba, Sokoto, Zamfara, Bauchi, Plateau, Osun, Kwara, Oyo, Enugu and Kaduna states.

When I saw the headline for this story in the Daily Trust newspaper of March 23, 2017, I was full of hope that the reconstruction of the Lambata-Lapai-Agaie-Bida road in Niger state would be on the list of the highway projects approved by the FEC. So, I quickly ignored other news items on page 3 of the newspaper and went straight to read the report on N80 billion projects. Incredibly though, Niger state was not even on the list of states where the road projects are located. I read the story twice to confirm the bombshell. However, my second reading did not change the message in the story. But unlike the new “Grand Mufti” and Governor of Zamfara state AbdulAzeez Yari, I refused to describe the very bad shape of the road as “punishment from God”. 

Niger state which is about one-tenth of the country’s land mass has the longest stretch of federal roads in Nigeria covering over 2000 kilometers. The Lambata-Agaie-Bida highway is one of the most deplorable federal roads, if not the worst road, in Niger State. It was constructed by the administration of former President Shehu Shagari in 1980/81. While DTV Company constructed the Bida-Agaie-Lapai axis of the road, the Lapai-Lambata axis was built by Gufanti Construction Company. Ordinarily, a road that has been in use for over 36 years is old enough to have critically gone bad. The road, under normal circumstances, should have been reconstructed, at least, twice. 

The only time the road was to be favored with maintenance work was in 1998 when the contract for its re-construction was awarded by the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under the Chairmanship of General (rtd) Muhammadu Buhari. The execution of this contract started shortly before Chief Olusegun Obasanjo entered Aso Rock Villa in 1999 as Nigeria’s President. Like the Suleja township roads and Baro Inland port which contracts were also awarded by the erstwhile PTF, luck ran against the Lambata-Agaie-Bida road project when Baba-Iyabo revoked the contract soon after his inauguration in 1999 as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

The Lambata-Agaie-Bida road is so deplorable that a journey through it isn’t without some kind of misfortune suffered either by the vehicle or the passengers or both. Driving through this road leaves your car at the end of the journey with a punctured tyre; damaged brake pads or disc or both; broken bottom plate; or weakened shock-absorbers. As a driver or passenger, you must be prepared to take some analgesic pills such as Panadol-Extra if sleep must cross your eyes on reaching your destination. The aged and pregnant women, unless otherwise compelled, must think twice before making a choice to travel on this road. The fatigue suffered by even the very energetic and healthy young man each time he travels on this road is quite nerve-racking to induce some bone or joints-related illnesses. My elder brother, Alhaji Abdullahi B. Yawa (a retired Director at the Federal Ministry of Education) once travelled to Bida from Abuja but had to be helped out of the car after reaching home because he could not move his legs. 

This road passes through three main Nupe communities of Niger State. They are (in their order of location from Abuja axis) Lapai, Agaie and Bida. Whoever thinks that this road is not as badly damaged as claimed in this discourse should travel on the road and go to the palace of Etsu Nupe HRH Alhaji (DR) Yahaya Abubakar, or that of Etsu Agaie Alhaji Yusuf Nuhu, or that of Etsu Lapai Alhaji Umaru Bago Tafida III to refute my assertions.

While travelers going to Lapai and Bida from Abuja may have better alternative routes, those travelling to Agaie have limited choices to make; making them the worst hit by the poor state of the road. People travelling to Lapai could take Paiko route road just as persons travelling to Bida could avoid the Lambata-Lapai-Agaie route and pass through Minna-Kataeregi road. For those going to Agaie, it makes no much difference in whichever route they take. 

But what is the ‘sin’ of these Nupe communities for which the federal road that passes through their place should not be maintained after 36 years of its existence? As a “son of the soil”, we cannot be accused of being anti-government because we gave APC, the ruling party, block votes in the 2015 general elections; from presidential down to governorship/state assembly. We cannot also be accused of being part of the mass-looting of public treasury that took place between 2009 and 2015. No Nupe man or woman has yet been arraigned by the EFCC for such a crime. We cannot also be accused of supporting insurgency as no one (to the best of my knowledge) from our part of the country has ever been suspected of Boko Haram activities. If we have not be found guilty of these “great sins”, we deserve as a people to benefit from government infrastructural interventions.

The terrible state of the road is tacitly affecting economic activities in these Nupe emirates of Nigeria. Even some of our distinguished brothers-in-law including Professor Ismail Tsiga of the Bayero University Kano are attributing the reduction in their regular visits to us, to the deplorable state of the road. One Bakatsine (a Katsina man) told me that the bad shape of the road is responsible for their inability to come and retrieve the legacies of their kinsman the late Bello Masaba including his numerous wives to Katsina. I hope Oga fashola is not waiting for us to stage a protest in Abuja (as characteristic of Nigerians) since most demands are never met without protests or strikes. Unfortunately, protest is not in the character of the Nupe. As people that strongly believe in the efficacy of prayers, we will continue to pray to Allah (SWT) to guide Oga Fashola, FEC and the National Assembly to send bull dozers, pavers and graders to Lambata-Bida road before the rains begin, amin.