By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Ganaja village axis of Ganaja road.
Ganaja village with thriving social and economic activities as well as a junction that links Kogi State to many states in eastern and northern part of the country is on the verge of being cut off from the rest of the country due to deplorable condition of Ganaja road.
The village is located in Ajaokuta Local Governnent Area of the state, sharing border with Lokoja Local Governnent Area.
Investigation by The Reporters,an online publication on Monday in Ganaja showed that the portion of the road, especially very close to the village, is now a show of itself,as it is charactetised by ubiquitous potholes and other ugly sites.
According to our Correspondent, a 7-kilometre journey on the road from Ganaja junction to Ganaja village, which is supposed to take less than 15 minutes now takes about an hour.
Our Correspondent,who plied the dual carriage road on Monday, reports that commuters only enjoy pleasurable ride on the road from Baptist High School from Ganaja junction axis to the Gate of Aniebo Estate.
From the estate, drivers and passengers are welcome to potholes, galloping, posing great challenges to drivers most of who told our correspondent that they have been going through “hell” plying the road.
An Enugu-Abuja bound commercial driver, Micheal Nwanko, expressed concern over the deplorable condition of the road and its negative impact on his vehicle.
Scenes on Ganaja road.
“Each time I get to Ganaja road, I am always not happy plying the road. Reason being that, I know for sure that immediately I disembark my passengers,the next place to visit is mechanic workshop.
“The road, especially between Ganaja village and Aniebo Estate, is in a very bad state of existence. I wonder why the delay in completing the rehabilitation of this very strategic road.
“Substantial percentage of my proceeds go to for the repair of my vehicle, almost on a weekly basis with little or nothing left to show for the work I am doing in terms of profit.
“If this ugly trend continues for long, I will stop plying this road,soon in preference for other fairly good roads in other states,” he told The Reporters an interview at Ganaja.
Some vehicles were seen broken down on the road as a result of the problem.
Also speaking with the The Reporters,a community leader in Ganaja, Alhaji Abubakar Isa Mohammed,noted with concern over the delay in completing the rehabilitation of the trunk A- 23 road.
The community leader,who traced the history of the road to 1991, when it was constructed, identified flood as the major contributor to its deplorable condition.
“It is not funny with the kind of experience we go through as far as this road is concerned. Honestly, if nothing is done to complete the rehabilitation of this road on time and with the coming of rain, the road with be completely impassable by September or end of October
“The bad condition of the road has restricted the movement of goods and persons,because not many vehicles ply this road again.
“Ganaja road leads to Ajaokuta Steel Project, a project we hope and pray will come to fruition one day. So the need to put Ganaja road into motorable shape cannot be over emphasised.
“This is necessary so that Ganaja village will not be cut off from the rest of Nigeria,” he stressed.
