By Correspondent in Lokoja
Various strata of population in Lokoja, Kogi state capital, have told the Federal government to choose between the health of the people and timely reconstruction and completion of the 17-kilometre Ganaja road it started 7 months ago.
The Reporters,an online publication, gathered that the reconstruction of the road, billed to start from the popular Ganaja junction to Ganaja village, is awarded to contractors who don’t have the required equipment to carry out the job.
Our Correspondent who has been following development on the road for the past since the reconstruction was inaugurated, reports that not much of serious work has been carried out to command people’s appreciation.
For the instance, the contractor handling the 200 unit axis of the road upto new Gadumo village has abandoned work for the past one month, though one lane of the road has seen laying asphalt from the 200 unit junction to Diamond Plaza/Total filling station in Gadumo.
Our investigation also showed that some construction works were being carried out work on the 500 units/Commissioners’ quarters of the road but the process has on slow pace.
Our correspondent further reports that the gamut of eyebrow being expressed by drivers, motorcycle/Tricycle riders, motorists,commutters among others is the slow pace of work on the road.
Our interviewers were also not happy that the contractors failed to wet the road, a development that they note, had brought ubiquitous dust with the attendant health consequences to the public.
“Our life is being endangered on a daily basis by poisonous dust emanating from the road,by the fact that the contractors do not deem it to be wetting the road, besides the snail nature of reconstruction going on the road.
“With the nature of work on the road, we are beginning to believe that government would have left the road as it was because we are worse now with the performance of the contractors.
“Many of asthma patients living in Gadumo have relocated either temporary or permanent from this area to avoid untimely death, as the large quantity of dust from the reconstruction has the potential of aggravating their health condition,Miss Noami Alabi, a practising nurse told our correspondent.
Mr Austen Achimugu, a commercial driver who plies the road enroute Anyigba to Lokoja, daily, said the chunk of his proceeds usually go for the repair of his vehicle, leaving him with virtually nothing to feed his family.
“Twice or more per week, I visit mechanics for the repair of my vehicle as a result of constant wear and tear on my vehicle due to the slow pace of work on this road. The Federal government should please hasten the work, to save from the various bitter social and economic experiences confronting us on this road.
A commercial motorcyclist, Mr Adamu Aliyu, said he had stopped plying the road due to “the terrible dust”, adding that the development had caused him an accident that almost claim his life about a week ago.
“Each time I carry passengers to Ganaja, on getting to Gadumo village, the dust usually blur my vision,a development that caused me accident recently.
“Is like government has to choose between fixing the road on time or leave us to wallow in terrible dust. If you ask me, I would say completing the road is the best option, in conformity with the aims and objectives of government to the citizens,” he said.
Operators of various business outfits along the road,such as car wash among others,said they had been operating at a loss as dust did not allow most customers to patronise them any more.
The road which has heavy human and vehicular movement within Lokoja also plays strategic role in the movement of people from Kogi state to either northern, southern and eastern parts of the country.
The reconstruction of the road stems from the aim of the federal government to check perennial flood that usually impede transportation of humans and goods on the road.