Gridlock: Motorists sleep on Benin-Auchi-Okene Highway

Igbaugba Ehigimetor

Gridlocks have returned to the Ekpoma part of the Benin-Auchi-Okene Highway.

The gridlocks result from a failed portion of the highway stretching to more than one kilometer.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported on Sunday that long queues of vehicles, mostly articulated vehicles could be seen on the stretch of the failed portion.

The long queues could be noticed from Opoji Junction to the gate of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, a perennial site whenever the rains set in.

NAN reported that motorists, especially those driving articulated vehicles, spend days on the failed portion of the highway.

Motorists who spoke with NAN said what was required to end their nightmare was a permanent fixing of the road rather than the yearly palliative measure of filling portions with debris.

“You can see the long queue here. I have been here since yesterday and no movement for articulated vehicles.

“Cars easily maneuver their way through Ekpoma town,’’ Musa Bawa, an articulated vehicle driver who was in the gridlock overnight, told NAN.

“This was our experience last year and we have started again even before heavy rains come,’’ he said.

Another articulated vehicle driver, Balance Nabawa, decried the deplorable condition of the highway and appealed to the government to deploy a permanent solution before the rainy season deepens.

“It is pitiable that we are practically stranded here,’’ he lamented.

Another motorist, Musa Abdulahi, said the government needed to question contractors who execute palliative repairs on that portion of the highway as jobs delivered never last beyond a rainy season.

“In the alternative, a total reconstruction of the highway should be effected to avoid the perennial gridlocks,’’ he said.