- It is a timely visit, FERMA Chairman.
- Politicians made false claims, findings revealed.
By Ismail M. Kabir
 |
| Dr. Adeiza delivering his remark |
The visit, led by Dr. Abdulrahman Adeiza, the National
President of EPA took place today, Wednesday October 28th, 2014 at the
headquarter of the road maintenance agency in Wuse II, Abuja with a view to
drawing the attention of the agency to the socio-economic challenges posed to
the nation by the incessant traffic jam caused by the damaged section of the
road especially as the yuletide period approaches.
The chairman of FERMA, Engr. Jide Adeniyi while receiving
the delegation in his office thanked EPA for rising up to the challenge,
describing the gesture as patriotic.
Dr. Adeiza highlighted the hardship faced by members of the
community since the traffic gridlock surfaced on the road for the past weeks.
“We got to the point of standstill on the road when
commuters spent days on the traffic. Perishable goods were destroyed due to the
long delay on transit while the community lost two people to horrible accidents
on the traffic”, Dr. Adeiza said.
He added that the appeal for FERMA’s intervention became
urgent as drivers’ union in the area were getting agitated.
“We fear the possibility of uprising by the drivers and the
youth in the area if the unbearable gridlock witnessed on the road some days
ago repeats itself”, Dr. Adeiza submitted, noting the near break down of law
and order noticed in the previous congestion on the road.
In his response, Engr. Adeniyi assured the delegation of his
commitment to urgently address the situation while acknowledging the avoidable
blockage that may be witnessed on the damaged highway throughout the festive
season.
“This is an urgent situation that requires proactive
measures to forestall possible gridlock in December period”, Engr. Adeniyi
said, reminding the delegation of the funding challenge currently faced by the
agency but promised to do everything possible to fix the road ahead of
December.
In a swift phone call placed by the chairman to the Kogi
state office of the agency, a coordinator from the Lokoja office confirmed the
heavy damage on the road and further informed the chairman of the thorough
survey recently conducted by his team on the length of the affected section of
the highway which was put at 9.7KM.
He, however, informed the chairman that a proposed
rehabilitation project in Borno state has been re-allocated to Kogi state over
the current insecurity in the North-Eastern Nigeria, a development that presented
a breakthrough for the Okene-Lokoja highway.
Engr. Adeniyi then congratulated the delegation for what he
termed a divine intervention. He expressed hope that re-construction work may soon
commence on the road.
The delegation comprised Dr. Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo, Dr.
Abdulrahman Adeiza of EPA, Muhammed Attah of Kogi Central CSOs Network, Alhaji
Abu Imam of Proudly Anebira, Adayi Alhaji Isah Ademoh of Club 10 and Ismail M. Kabir of EbiraView
Media.
 |
| EPA Delegation with FERMA Chairman |
False claims by our elected
officers
Contrary to earlier reports attributed to some Ebira elected
officers who claimed that following their meeting with the Minister of Works that
the CGC Construction Company was directed to move to the site, the situation on
the dilapidated road has since degenerated as no repair work has been
noticeable on the damaged spots.
The youths we met working on the road as contained in our
earlier report turned out to be Tipper Drivers whose intervention freed the
road of the initial gridlock.
Our findings also revealed that the bulldozer sighted in the
area during our assessment visit did not belong to CGC Construction Company as
earlier reported, but it was a Lagos-bound earth moving equipment that was
stuck in the congestion.
The bulldozer later assisted the volunteers in
facilitating its own passage out of the long traffic, our finding has revealed.
Comments
Post a Comment
Please include your name in your comments.
Thanks.