A call has gone to the authorities to beef up security on the Damboa-Maiduguri road in Borno State to decongest the Maiduguri-Damaturu road.
The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Borno State branch, made the call saying though the two roads were often infested with insurgents who attacked travellers at will, the situation on the Maiduguri-Damaturu road had improved of recent due to heavy troops’ presence.
“Incidences of attacks and abductions which were frequent last year are almost nonexistent this year as a result of the heavy troop presence at different checkpoints between Maiduguri and Damaturu,” he said.
The chairman of the state branch, Alhaji Abba Shuwa, said commercial vehicles would ply the road as long as security was provided them.
“Our members are not at ease due to the situation in the area and have stopped plying Maiduguri, Damboa and Biu, a distance of about 174 kilometres. People travelling to Biu now have to pass through Damaturu, Askira-Uba and Chibok or Bama-Gwoza-Michika and Askira-Uba. The distance has increased apart from travel time and expenses,” he said.
He appealed to the authorities to improve the road condition and send additional security personnel to secure the road.
A soldier in Maiduguri said the road was not permanently closed but vehicles have to be guided to avoid land mines and insurgents. He said extra patrols were stationed along the road and ‘elsewhere.’
Similarly, a commercial vehicle driver in Maiduguri, Malam Kabiru Ismail, noted that the 87km Damboa-Maiduguri road which connects major towns including Biu, Gombe and Yola had been abandoned by many commuters due to its poor condition and attacks by insurgents.
“As a result, traffic flow on the Maiduguri-Damaturu road tended to be higher always,” he stated.
“The only safe road that leads in and out of Maiduguri and connects to other states is the Maiduguri-Damaturu road which people have to ply even as it is longer if you are travelling to Biu or Gombe.
“Last year troops escorted convoys of vehicles daily to Damboa after detecting and removing explosives but all of a sudden they stopped,” he said.
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