By Correspondent in Lokoja
Residents of Gadumo/Ganaja community have again appealed to the Federal and Kogi State governments to ensure timely completion of the 17-kilometre Ganaja road, to save them from the inherent health problem confronting them due to slow pace of work on the road.
Many of the residents who spoke with The Reporters correspondent on the issue on Friday at Gadumo, said they had been subjected to poisonous dust as a result of rehabilitation going on the road and the fact that the company handling did not factor in constant wetting of the road.
According to Mr Timothy Ocheja, apart from the slow pace of work on the road, the company handling the rehabilitation hardly wet the road,a development he said, had given him and thousands of others in the area serious nightmare.
Contributing, a health expert, Mr Onimisi Ibrahim, noted with concern that, many people with asthmatic condition had not been finding life easy staying in the area as they have to be inhaling dust each tine they plied the road.
” The whitish, poisonous dust coming out of the road due to the rehabilitation is dangerous to public health,most especially those with asthmatic condition.
“Even those without asthma stand the risk of contracting dust related ailments some of which can be fatal on the long run.
“We get respite to the offensive dust and whenever the rain stops,the suffering continues.
“It is high those connected with rehabilitation work on the road put heads together and complete the work without delay anymore,”he urged.
Another resident, who chose not to be identified, described the rehabilitation of the road as “slower than the working of tortoise.”
“How can the rehabilitation of a 17-kilometre take many months to be completed and yet, the dust coming out of such work remains snail pace of work,posing health danger to the public,”she lamented.
Our Correspondent gathered that apart from the health implication of the delay in the completion of the road, it has also affected the social and economic life of the people living in the area.
Some residents said they hardly open the doors and windows of their houses, in the mist of the terrible heat in Lokoja,to check the influx of dust to their rooms. Others added that they had stopped receiving visitors due to the problem.
Investigation by our Correspondent showed that the dust has sent many small business activities, along the road, such as car washing,out of business, following complaints by their operators of not being able to stomach inhaling dust that predisposed them to danger anymore.
As this report was at about being sent out for public consumption, rain which has been saving people set in at about 4.45p.m, a development that relieved residents many of who were seen jubilating and thanking God for the relief.
The Reporters recalls that the rehabilitation of the road commenced November 2020 with the hope that it will be completed within a span of three months.
The online publication further gathered that the rehabilitation of the road stems from the fact that, the road is usually cut up in the cubweb of yearly flood in Lokoja with devastating effect on the it, thereby impeding human and vehicular movement.
The difficulty facing commutters and motorists during flood and the poor condition of the road prompted government to begin the rehabilitation of the road.
