SOS To FG On Abandoned Omuaran-Egbe-Mopa-Kabba-Obajana Road

By Odunayo Joseph

In 2008 I sent a ‘Save our Soul’ appeal to the presidency and the Minister of Transport for urgent rehabilitation of the Federal Government’s Omuran-Egbe-Mopa-Kabba-Obajana Trunk ‘A road. The SOS was published in one of the Nigerian newspapers on Thursday, 18 December, 2008.

But since then nothing has been done and the condition of the road has continued to deteriorate.

Help has not come from stakeholders in Kogi and Kwara states that unbelievably parade prominent ex-this and ex-that; not even captains of industry  and business moguls of national fame, prominent traditional rulers; renowned religious leaders of local and international repute; astute politicians in the Senate and the House of Representatives; Dangote Cement Company, Obajana in  West Senatorial District of Kogi State (owned by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, a business mogul of international repute and a notable philanthropist who to embark on poverty alleviation programme for women in all 774 local governments in Nigeria to the tune of N100 billion) have deemed it fit to salvage the situation.

Dangote trucks hauling cement from the Obajana factory contributed in no small way yo to the deplorable state of this federal highway. The hundreds of potholes on the road have widened into craters. The accidents caused by these craters have resulted in the loss of lives coupled with the frequent killing of villagers and maiming of travellers by armed bandits who capitalise on the bad spots to rob motorists and travellers.

It is saddening that this bad state of the road is still an issue for discussion five years after the relentless clamour for the road to be rehabilitated.

It is hoped that the Trunk ‘A’ road being a Federal road will be given due attention by the Federal Government.  It is rather unfortunate that the Federal Executive Council, a body that is saddled with the responsibility of awarding major federal road contracts, among others, has never given consideration to this strategic road that links Kwara and Kogi states with Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.  Apart from the untold suffering and dangers that travellers on the road are being exposed to, transporting farm produce from the two states notably Kogi West Senatorial District which constitutes not less than 85 per cent of the road length runs through it, is increasingly becoming more and more difficult and constituting an eyesore each passing day.  In addition, the cost of food items, as expected, continues to be on the increase thus adding more to the hardship of the agrarian, rural and poverty stricken communities especially the West Senatorial District of Kogi State and the area between Omu-Aran and Eruku in Kwara State.

A situation where the rehabilitation of the neglected road may be tactically delayed in order to make it a campaign issue in wooing the people by politicians as the forthcoming 2015 election approaches will not go down well with the concerned people considering the immediate attention that ought to have been paid to the road abandoned since 1999.

•Joseph wrote from Kogi. E-mail: odunayo_ [email protected]