By Disun Amosun
The urgent need to address the gridlock on the Suleja – Lambata – Bida Highway in Niger State, which has led to a near total close down of the vital artery linking the far North with the Southern part of the country for the past one week has led members of the House into taking drastic measures to ameliorate the situation.
Following the introduction of a motion on the situation, during which it was which it was revealed that for the past six days, an unprecedented 18-kilometer gridlock between Lambata and Suleja has crippled the flow of traffic on Suleja-Lambata-Bida highway in Niger State, holding vehicles – tankers, Lorries, trucks, and trailers and subjecting motorists to hostage situation and hardship.
To reverse the situation, the House in adopting the motion mandated the Federal Ministry of Works, Federal Roads Maintenance Agency FERMA, FRSC to immediately deploy personnel and resources, to compliment efforts by the Niger State government which had do far constituted a task force to ameliorate the situation and restore Smith flow of traffic in the affected areas.
The House in plenary also directed the Works Ministry to conduct an emergency assessment if the condition of the road, engage the contractor handling the dualization project of the affected road to ascertain reasons for delay in the project completion.
Members have noted that the road in question is one of the busiest and most critical federal highways in the nation connecting and facilitating the movement of people, goods, and services, including essential and perishable items between Northern and Western States, Informed that the gridlock is caused by some major potholes along Maje to Dikko Junction, a key artery to the nation’s capital city, Abuja.
In light of the situation, small vehicles on emergency journeys have been compelled to take alternative bushy routes via Izom to Suleja; a route fraught with security threats;
Mover of the motion disclosed that the current situation has resulted in huge losses in valuable man-hours, impacted negatively on perishable goods especially Agricultural produce posing severe implications on the economy of the nation and has also heightened the risk of accidents and has made the area prone to criminal activities, thereby compromising the safety of commuters and residents alike
He also warned that road users have been subjected to hunger, poor health conditions and untold hardship due to their inability to access quality food, healthcare and transport themselves and goods effectively.
The Federal Government awarded the contract for the reconstruction and dualization of the first phase of this vital road since 2010 and the second phase in 2015 but even efforts to provide alternative funding through the Presidential Tax Credit Scheme has not yielded the desired result as the pace of work has been alarmingly slow.