Residents of Machada community, near Zuba in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have expressed concern over the deplorable state of the road leading to Yimi village in the area.
They complained that the bad state of the road causes untold hardship to the residents most especially farmers who transport their crops to the markets in Zuba and Gwagwalada.
A resident, Musa Haruna, who spoke with Aso Chronicle, said the uncompleted box culverts along the road have made the condition of the road worst, saying anytime it rains the road becomes impassable for motorists.
He also said part of the dirt road was threatened by erosion due to lack of proper water drainage system.
According to him, the uncompleted double cell box culverts were abandoned by the previous administration, noting that with the increase in population in the community, the council authorities should intensify efforts in completing the abandoned culverts.
“The major problem facing residents of this community is the bad state of the road. As you can see, some culverts have been abandoned for over six years now and anytime it rains, the water is diverted to the main road and that has been causing erosion, “he said.
Another resident, Ezekiel Yakubu, said though the present administration of Alhaji Adamu Mustapha, has tried in addressing the challenges of electricity at the community, the residents would be appreciative when the road is also fixed.
‘And to be fair to the council chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mustapha, he has tried to address the problem of electricity and even provided transformers here in Machada community, but we are still appealing to him to come to our aid to tackle the problem of this road,” he said.
A commercial cyclist, Suleiman Umar, who spoke with Aso Chronicle, also complained over the bad state of the road, saying some cyclist hardly ply the road due its deplorable condition even as he said he charges any passenger he pick from Zuba town to Machada village between N150 to N200.
“In fact, not every Okada man likes plying this road because of the bad nature of the road, especially any day that it rains, the road becomes slippery. And I have to wash my bike two times in a day some times after the close of work,” he said.
Similarly, residents of Anguwar Paka community have also expressed concern over the deplorable state of the road that links them with Zuba town.
Some residents who spoke with Aso Chronicle said the road that links from Agora of Zuba’s palawwwwce junction down to Ibwa village, near Muslim cemetery was in a deplorable state, saying the road has been causing untold hardship especially to people with vehicles that reside in the area.
A resident, Adekunle Benjamin, said the road and some located around the area have been threatened by erosion due to lack of water drainage, saying anytime there was heavy rain fall, the road becomes impassable to motorists.
He said majority of residents of the area who are mostly civil servants and reside at residential houses faces serious hardship whenever it rains, as they hardly drive through the road.
According to him, some residents sometimes abandoned their vehicles at a friend’s and neighbour’s houses at Zuba town especially whenever it rains, saying the road becomes impassable for the motorists.
He added that majority of residents of the area who own their personal houses always mobilize funds especially during rainy season to procure laterite to fill some bad portions of the road and erosion that also threaten some houses in the area.
“And apart from that, some residents especially those whose houses are being threatened by erosion have to find an alternative by engaging the services of bricklayers to fill enough concrete beside their house in order to avoid their houses to collapse, he said.
Benjamin, who also complained over lack of borehole in the area, appealed to the authorities of the council under the leadership of Alhaji Adamu Mustapha, to provide a borehole in order to cushion water problem in the area and also rehabilitate the road to ease movement of motorists plying the area.
When contacted, the chairman of the council, Alhaji Adamu Mustapha, said his administration has taken the issue of rehabilitation and construction as one of his top priority, saying it was part of his campaign promise to give attention to dilapidated road in the council.
He said since he assumed office, the council has been making efforts to rehabilitate some bad roads in the area council, but said the challenge he has been facing was lack of enough resources to carry out the repair of all the roads at the same time.
He said despite the meager resources the council has been receiving, the council has embarked on rehabilitation of some roads within the metropolis of the council such as, one way- market road, sharp Conner road, Pilot science school-Abalaka road and Sharia Court along Dupka road.
“So you can see that despite the challenges of funds we have been facing since we assumed office over a year ago, we have been trying our best to ensure that some of the dilapidated roads are giving the attention they deserve.
“Zuba axis, including the Machada-Yimi as well as the fruit market roads, including the uncompleted box culvert are going to be given attention very soon as soon as we complete some of the ongoing road projects in Gwagwalada town,” he said.
The chairman said he owed the people who elected him into office a lot, hence, it has become necessary for administration to utilize the little resources accrued to the council to provide viable infrastructure to them, even as he added that some of the road projects has already been captured in the councils budget.
“And I am assuring that the roads you talked about in Zuba axis have already been captured in the council’s budget and once we have the cash backing, we will start work immediately without any delay,” he added.
“And we have also resolved at our meeting and passed a vote of confidence in our elected president for his level of maturity style of exemplary leadership,” he added.
