Thousands of motorists, commuters and traders were left stranded after flood cut off the Bauchi-Gombe Road following heavy downpour at Kalajanga village in Kirfi Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
The road links Bauchi with four Northeast states of Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Borno and extends to the North Central states of Plateau and Nasarawa.
On a daily basis, hundreds of trailers, trucks and buses loaded with livestock, food stuffs and passengers ply the highway. However, vehicular movement was put on hold last Sunday following the disaster, which repeatedly happens every rainy season.
Last year, the Bauchi-Gombe highway was cut off twice by flood and the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) subsequently patched the areas at Tashan Turmi and this year, another area which is also a bridge at Kalajanga has been washed away, as well as a large portion of the road, which has denied commuters access.
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The damage caused by the flood would take months and the commitment of both federal and affected states governments to fix because a large portion of the highway was washed away. Only a standard bridge can make the road motorable, especially for heavy trucks and trailers conveying livestock and food stuffs to different parts of the country.
Many commuters, motorists, traders, businessmen and women lost millions of naira as a result of the incident as many had to terminate their journey, and sold their commodities at a loss. Others had to reroute and go through the Dukku-Darazo-Bauchi Road which will drastically affect the prices of their goods and services.
The Bauchi-Gombe highway in recent years has further dilapidated due to the poor quality of work carried out by construction companies handling the road, a situation that has put the lives of motorists in danger. The road has become a death trap due to lots of potholes and ditches.
Findings indicate that the state of the road has also paralysed commercial activities on the busy Bauchi-Gombe Road portion linking Bauchi metropolis, especially the motor park as commercial drivers, passengers, commercial tricycles and motorcycles plying the road have been out of business following the incident.
When our correspondent visited the Bauchi-Gombe motor park Wednesday he observed a deserted park with just few motorists loading to nearby communities in Bauchi Road.
When contacted, deputy state chairman of Road Transport Employee Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and branch chairman of Bauchi-Gombe Road line, Alhaji Buhari Batara, said that the cutoff has paralysed their activities and thrown many of their members into untold hardship. “We have no fewer than 3000 members working in the motor park. This unfortunate incident affects us directly because our means of livelihood has been cut off. This is the only road our members ply because they drive from Bauchi to Gombe, Biu, Katungo, Yola, Jalingo, up to the border with Republic of Cameroon.”
Batara said, “Shuttling from Bauchi to Gombe is almost on hold as very few people visit the park for journey to Gombe or other neighbouring states in the North East. You can see that both drivers and other union staff are sitting down idle. The passengers are not coming due to the hike in fuel price and the incident has worsened the situation.
“We now follow the Dukku-Darazo-Bauchi Road which is almost double the distance and the situation has compelled us to increase the transport fare to N3000 instead of N1,700 and the passengers are groaning but when you calculate the fuel consumption, the profit is very small but is better than staying idle. We are pleading with the government to urgently fix the road because the situation has thrown our members into difficult economic conditions.”
A commercial taxi driver, Yakubu Sale, said, “The day before yesterday (Monday), I loaded passengers from Gombe to Bauchi and met the cutoff, I had to return to Gombe and drop the passengers. Today (Wednesday), I also carried another set of passengers and on reaching the cutoff side, the water had subsided and some local youths created a motorable way using stones and trees through farmlands. However, they must collect from N500 and above before allowing any vehicle to pass through their makeshift road.
“You would also pay N200 to those that would push your vehicle through the area and all your passengers would have to come down and trek across the river. I saw two vehicles that tried the local arrangements and so I took the risk because if I go through Dukku-Darazo-Bauchi Road, the fuel might finish before we get to Bauchi and God so kind, we were lucky to pass safely,” he said.
Another victim of the incident who is a commercial tricycle driver, Kabiru Mohammed, told Daily Trust that the cut off of Bauchi-Gombe Road has badly affected their business because, “We face serious lack of patronage due to the cutoff. As you can see, passengers are not forthcoming because we rely on people traveling along the Bauchi-Gombe Road either on their way back home or those traveling to Gombe.
“We are facing scarcity of passengers and we cannot be roaming the street due to the cost of fuel. We are appealing to the government in the name of God to kindly fix the road because this was our means of livelihood,” Mohammed said.
A businessman, Alhaji Umar Yusuf, who sells grinding machines and their spare parts along the Bauchi-Gombe Road, said the incident has weakened businesses in Bauchi and village markets along the highway. There are two major strategic markets – one in Alkakeri which holds every Sunday and the major foodstuff and livestock market in Lariski.
Yusuf said, “If you stand by the Bauchi-Gombe Road every day, you would count hundreds of trailers loaded with cattle, sheep, goats and food stuffs coming from the North East to different parts of Nigeria. There is urgent need for the federal government to prevent an economic crisis that this incident will cause.”
A university student Garba Hussaini travelling to Gombe from Bauchi said agreed that the cutoff has aggravated the existing transport difficulties. “What is most disturbing is that politicians, especially Senators, from the northeast zone are not concerned about the plight of motorists and commuters plying the road because they travel by air.
“We heard that the Federal Government under former President Muhammadu Buhari awarded a contract for the dualization of the highway from Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi to Gombe but unfortunately, no one is talking about the contract or rehabilitation of the road. Federal government should urgently intervene and save the lives and businesses of Nigerians who ply this road to different parts of the country,” Hussaini said.
Investigation further indicates that before the road was washed off, a construction company was embarking on reconstruction of some parts the road.
When Governor Bala Mohammed paid on-the-spot assessment visit of the damaged portion of the road on Monday, he called on the federal government to look into the problem by providing immediate solution for commuters passing through Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba states.
The governor decried the neglect of Bauchi-Gombe Road by previous administration and urged the federal government to reconstruct the entire road.
Mohammed expressed worry that the situation would affect commercial activities in northeastern subregion, adding that the road is a major gateway connecting the Northeast states with the north central and the whole country.
He said, “The cutoff road is going to affect food security in the state because the road is a major commercial corridor with a lot of food stuff; this is going to affect food security, this going to affect our commerce and it will deepen poverty.”
The governor also charged the company handling the rehabilitation project to expedite action in ensuring timely completion of the road to alleviate the suffering of commuters.
Responding to the governor, representative of the construction firm Haidar Ibrahim assured the governor that they will create a motorable way for vehicles to pass before fixing the cutoff side of the road.
All efforts made to get the reactions of officials at the FERMA Bauchi office was not successful at the time of filing this report.
