By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
Road users plying Lokoja via Ganaja village to the eastern flank of the State have expressed worries over the abandoned reconstruction of the 7km Ganaja Junction to Ganaja Village road on the outskirt of Lokoja metropolis.
Motorists who described the Contractors as incompetent, and showing lackadaisical attitude, blamed the Federal Ministry of works for lack of thorough supervision .
Our correspondent reported that Motorists on Wednesday spent several hours at the usual flood spot, ‘Ganaja Village’ when some trucks were stucked and traffic hold up re-surfaced after a heavy done pour.
Both Motorists and motorcyclists plying the eastern flank of the state were subjected to a severe hardship as the only optional route via 500 Housing unit has been damaged by rain as a result of lack of maintenance.
Recalled that the road works began sometimes last year, but have subjected residents and motorists to severe hardship due to deceptiveness and showing the highest level of incompetence by contractors who even secured the contract in the first place.
According to some respondents, the delay and poor quality of work done so far, with the contractors employing manual process in such a highly Technical work has led to loss of hope as the quality of work from all indication cannot stand the test of time.
Recalled that sometimes last year, residents and motorists suffered untold hardship when the major roads through Ganaja village was submerged by flooding, but instead of taking serious proactive measures through a competent contractors before the flood this year, the reverse is the case.
For instance, Shitu Abdullahi living in 500 Unit said the seeming incompetence of the contractors handling the rehabilitation of the Lokoja — Ganaja road, calls for serious questioning whether the contractors were properly mobilised.
He lamented why a-7km – road be shared amongst four contractors, yet work is very slow and poor quality displayed before it was finally abandoned, fingered the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing for not ensuring quality and standard.
Few weeks ago resident of the communities on the route had threatened to embark on a mass protest to demand revocation of the 7 kilometers road contract awarded to about four different contractors.
It was gathered that on receipt of the threat letter from the Ganaja community, a suburb of Lokoja metropolis, the Federal Controller of Works in Kogi, Engr Jimoh Kajogbola, hurriedly convened a meeting of stakeholders where he urged the youths across the Communities to resist the temptation of embarking on protest over poor execution of road projects.
The aggrieved residents had to sheath their swords owing to appeal by the Controller of Works and Housing, who promised an improvement.
However, light has started reflecting at the end of the tunnel once again as Contractor handling the rehabilitation of ‘Gadumo’ portion on Friday, (25th June 2021) returned to site.
This according to our correspondent is hope rising for motorists, other road users and residents living in the suburb community of Lokoja, the state capital, praying for the sustenance of the tempo.
