the Nuku-Rubochi-Gwargwada road which connects at Atako junction in Kuje Area Council of the FCT has been in deplorable state over the years.
The road, which is a Federal Government road, Aso Chronicle gathered, was constructed over 30 years ago, during the first civilian president, Shehu Shagari administration.
Some residents of Atako, Nuku, Rubochi and Gwargwada who spoke with our reporter, said the road has remained in a deplorable state causing hardships to motorists and residents who ply the road to Abaji for socio-economic activities.
Mr. Gabriel Musa, a resident of Nuku, said the bad state of the road has continued to pose a threat to the lives of people of the community, adding that the village’s chief sometimes mobilised the youth to fill some potholes from Atako junction down to Nuku before vehicles could ply it.
He said some hoodlums have taken advantage of the bad state of the road to attack travellers and dispossess them of their belongings.
He said travellers hardly ply the road once it was 7:00pm for fear of being robbed by suspected robbers who take advantage of the potholes to attack passengers when their vehicles slowed down to meander between the numerous potholes.
He also said the deplorable state of the road affects patients from Nuku village, especially pregnant women who travel to Abaji General Hospital for ante-natal care, noting that some women always preferred boarding motorcycles instead of cars.
“Some of the pregnant women who go to attend ante-natal in Abaji prefer to go on motorcycle. When my wife was going to ante-natal, I had to arrange for a motorcycle to convey her, instead of her boarding a vehicle because of the bad state of the,”he said.
Shedrack Ayuba, a resident of Rubochi, who is a civil servant in Kuje, said the road had caused untold hardship to him, saying he has to change his car shock absorbers after every few months because of the bad state of the road.
He said there was need for government to construct a bypass that will link Gwargwada to Kuje town to ease and facilitate the movement of residents of the villages in the area especially civil servants who go to work in Kuje or the main city in Abuja.
“And alongside the urgent call on government to quickly fix the Nuku-Rubochi-Gwargwada road, I want to also call on the authorities to intensify effort to open another road from Gwargwada that will link to Kuje town to ease movement and boost socio-economic activities,” he said.
A commercial driver, who identified himself as Usman, said the deplorable state of the road had discouraged him from picking passengers on the road, saying he now plies Toto-Nasarawa axis since the Rubochi-Gwargwada road turned to a nightmare.
“I used to ply Abaji to Gwargwada village two years ago but I stopped because of the bad state of the road. Whatever money I realized from passengers, I end up spending it on buying my cars shock absorbers,” he said.
Usman said those that ply the road were mostly private vehicles or pickup vans that convey traders from neighbouring villages to Abaji market and water tankers which convey water from Abaji to residents of Nuku and Rubochi villages.
He added that incessant robbery attacks by hoodlums who take advantage of the potholes to rob passengers of their belongings was what also discouraged him from plying the road.
“But I expected that with the kind of prominent people in Rubochi and Gwargwada, such as Kuje chairman, traditional rulers of the area, retired commissioners, permanent secretaries and former senator, they ought to get the FCT administration to come and intervene,” he added.
The traditional ruler of Rubochi, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Pada, who also spoke with Aso Chronicle, said the state of the road is a nightmare to people of his chiefdom, especially farmers who transport their farm produce to the market in Abaji.
He recalled how he mobilized elders and youth of the community to raise funds to purchase over 50 bags of cement and concrete to fill some potholes from Rubochi to Nuku village two years ago.
“But as I speak with you, the road has gone bad again after my people mobilized funds to buy cement to fill some of the potholes,” he said.
The traditional ruler said he was able to draw the attention of the FCT administration on the deplorable state of the road during a familiarisation visit of the newly appointed mandate secretary of the Area Council Services Secretariat, Abubakar Adamu Bappah, to his palace early last month.
The Agabe of Gwargwada- Ugbada, Alhaji Hussaini Agabi Mam, who spoke with our reporter noted that rehabilitation of the dilapidated Nuku- Rubochi down to his village by FCT administration would enhance social economic activities in the axis.
The traditional ruler added that the FCT administration should see the need to open a road that will also link Gwargwada to Kuje town to ease movement of people especially civil servants who are working in Kuje but reside in Gwargwada and Rubochi.
Reacting, the chairman of the council, Alhaji Abdullahi D. Galadima, told our reporter that the FCT minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, has already awarded contract for the rehabilitation of Nuku- Robochi-Gwargwada road.
“In fact, when I met with the minister last he confirmed to me that the road contract has already been awarded and work will commence this month, January,” he said.
