By Mohammed Bababusu

As Nigerians prepare for the festive season, some residents of Lokoja in Kogi have urged the federal and state government to fix bad roads in the state, to prevent Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) during the Yuletide.

A cross section of the residents, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the measure was imperative to enable Nigerians to ply good and safe roads during Christmas and New Year festivities.

Kogi occupies a central spot in Nigeria where people across the country pass through the state, serving as gateway to southern and northern parts of the country, hence the need to repair the roads.

Amb. Idris Muraina, Chairman, Kogi Non-Governmental Network (KONGNet), decried the poor state of roads in the country, stressing that “Kogi is no exception to bad roads”.

Muraina said the roads were being overstretched by traffic volume considering the multitude of travelers passing through the ‘Kogi corridor’ to other parts of the country.

“Not until recently the state government under the current administration has shown some level of interest in maintaining existing roads and opening up new access roads.

“The federal government had done a great level of disservice to the road infrastructure over the years.

“For instance, the Lokoja – Abuja road has been under construction since 2003 without results,

“The Ganaja junction – Ganaja – Ajaokuta that was recently awarded to be constructed using concrete technology and that job has indeed suffered from a slow pace.

“The Okene – Ajaokuta bypass was being halted for no reasonable cause.

“All these road networks are interconnecting roads that should ordinarily ease the movement of Nigerians within and across the state but they are currently in bad condition,” he said.

Importantly; the ongoing construction of the overhead bridge at Kabba junction was designed to ease traffic flow within the corridor, and allow for free movement during the Yuletide and beyond.

Muraina attributed the deplorable condition of the roads to lack of political commitment; corruption and neglect by relevant authorities in the country.

He also identified corruption as a major obstacle militating against effective operations of road maintenance agencies to fix potholes on the highways in spite of the budgetary provisions.

“The EFCC should beam its search light on projects and contracts not executed or badly executed to bring to book defaulters,” he said.

Also commenting, Mr Alhassa, the Managing Director, Kogi Road Maintenance Agency (KOGROMA), said the agency and the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) had accorded premium to major roads like the Lokoja – Okene, Lokoja – Kabba, Lokoja – Ejule.

He said that the Ahmed Ododo administration had procured equipment for the KOGROMA, to accelerate road rehabilitation in the state.

According to Alhassan, the agency is conducting road palliative repair works in eight local government areas of the state.

He also attributed the bad roads to poor construction procedure and quality; lack of maintenance culture, load bearing, poor drains, flooding and climate related problems.

“The agency is carrying out road resurfacing, pothole filling, desilt exercise and ⁠maintenance of road shoulder as well as construction of rings and box culverts.

“However, inadequate funding is militating against proactive roads maintenance,”

On his part, Mukhtar Abdulrahim, the Director of FERMA in Kogi, said the agency had initiated a campaign tagged: “Operation Connect to Your Destination,” to ease traffic flow during the festive season.

He said the campaign focused at identifying and rectifying critical areas on highways, to ensure free flow of traffic and hassle-free travel for road users.

The director said that obsolete infrastructure were largely responsible for poor roads in the country.

“Many roads were constructed in the 80s, exceeding their lifespan and requiring reconstruction or rehabilitation, excessive axle loading largely due to the collapse of the railway network.

“The collapse has shifted the burden to roads, surpassing their capacity by threefold in spite of climate change, especially global warming, which leads to increased water levels and flow velocity, damaging roads,” he said.

The director said that such challenges coupled with inadequate funding were hindering effective maintenance of roads across the country.

He, therefore, advocated establishment of a National Road Maintenance Fund, to encourage sustainable road infrastructure development. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Mohammed Bababusu/Rabe Bashir Mani