By Correspondent in Lokoja
Comrade Opaluwa Eleojo.
A member of Road Users Development Network of Nigeria,an NGO, otherwise known as Traffic Update Family (TUF) and a unionist, Comrade Opaluwa Eleojo,has urged Kogi State Governnent to construct an alternative route to connect to Ganaja village to Lokoja.
In a statement he sent to The Reporters,an online publication in Lokoja on Monday, Eleojo said the move became necessary to save the people of the area from agonising experience during flood in August, September and October.
According to the comrade, such an alternative route would also make life easy for motorists and passengers plying Ganaja road to the eastern part of the state and other eastern and southern parts of the country.
He noted with concern that flood during the three months concerned usually make life miserable for the residents of Ganaja by disconnecting them from the rest of Lokoja.
He said:”It is nolonger news that Lokoja, the Kogi state capital,which is the confluence of Rivers Niger and Benue, the road is usually heavily flooded in the months of August, September and October every year,thus,making life miserable for the Residents of Ganaja by disconnecting them from the rest of Lokoja.
“To the motorists and commuters that ply the route, they will tell you that, it is not an experience to wish an enemy.
“What will become news is the failure of government, again, to construct an alternative route to connect to Ganaja village from Lokoja when the flood starts as it has remained, since 2012.
“Constructing such an alternative route now, will ameliorate the plight of people along that corridor when the flood starts in late August.
“Also Worthy of mention is the Zone 8 junction – Barracks – Ganaja bye pass, popularly called ‘Wada Road.’
“The state government should without hesitation, mobilize the contractors back to site as that will create permanent solution to the plight of the people of Ganaja.
“The strategic location of kogi state, especially Lokoja, has the capability of announcing the functionality of any government to the entire world.
“Therefore, the construction of that Bye – pass has become very imperative as a stitch in time, saves nine.”
Our Correspondent reports that residents of Ganaja, a surburd of Lokoja, usually bear most brunts accompanying perennial flood in the area,as exemplified by the 2012 flood that hit almost half of the local government areas of the state, including Lokoja Local Government Area.
Besides the destruction of farms and other properties, worth millions of naira, the flood made Ganaja road,a strategy infrastructure leading the state to the eastern and south part of the country, impassable for almost a month while it lasted.
