Date: 2018-02-08

•WE'VE RELEASED N53.3M FOR THEIR RECONSTRUCTION - GOVT Tsaragi and Bacita towns are two communities in the Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State. The people of the area, who are of Nupe stock, are predominantly farmers in corn, millet, sorghum, soya beans, rice, and animal husbandry, among others. In fact, before the nation's economic downturn, Bacita used to have sugar and paper factories where many Nigerians of different tribes were gainfully employed with attendant boom in complementary businesses in the area.

In August 2017, two major bridges, constructed some 12 years ago, linking the two towns collapsed and the rubble washed away by erosion occasioned by heavy rainfall.

Community leaders in the affected towns stated that they had written official letters through their emirs to the local, state and the federal governments on their plight, but continued to wait for response from concerned authorities to ameliorate their daily sufferings occasioned by the collapse of their bridges.

As a temporary measure, residents constructed makeshift bridges with logs of wood covered with sand and another with planks of wood. On the authority of the communities, some youths daily collect toll of N500 on each vehicle and N100 on motorcycles who use the makeshift bridge. However, the toll for vehicle got reduced to N200 in the dry season.

A community leader in Pandaragi village where the first collapsed bridge was located, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, confirmed that the construction of the Tsaragi-Bacita road and bridges was facilitated by a member of the House of Representatives in the area, Hon. Yahaya Bulldozer about 12 years ago. Haruna, who said that the Pandaragi bridge collapsed last year due to an erosion. He added that the community had informed the Emir of Tsaragi, Alhaji Abdullahi Kpotua, whom he said contacted Edu local government, state government and the federal government on the matter. "Since then, we are yet to get a response. This wood work here was through communal effort. The emir also supported us with money to finance the construction of the makeshift bridge. Even as it is, there have been accidents on the bridge.

"We are afraid that when the rainy season commences, the logs of wood used in the construction of the bridge could get washed away. We want the government to quickly come and find solution to it because the reconstruction is beyond the capacity of either of the communities or the local government. For the state government, please, let's just cover our mouth from saying anything. They can't do anything.

"We are farmers. The bad condition of the bridges is really disturbing our farming business and other socioeconomic activities. We could not transport our produce to Tsaragi or Gbugbu markets not until we came up with this. And for God's sake this is not really the solution that is needed here", he said.

Also speaking, another community leader at Eminpa village, where the second collapsed bridge was located, Mallam Audu Baba, said that the collapse of the Eminpa Bridge happened a week after that of Pandaragi occurred in August 2017. He also said all the communication made by the community to the concerned authorities on the failed bridge had not yielded any response.

"The community came together to construct this plank bridge at least to make it possible for all the people using the road to go through. We are predominantly farmers. We plant yam, maize, groundnut, melon, sorghum and many other crops. We need to move our goods to the market. It took us about two weeks to construct it. Even as at yesterday, we bought some planks of wood to add and replace those already getting damaged due to daily vehicular movement on the bridge.

"We want the government to come to our aid before the rainy season commences so that we will not lack means of transporting our produce. Movement on the bridge during the rainy season would be quite slippery for vehicles to pass," he said.

Also narrating their harrowing experiences to the Nigerian Tribune on the road since the collapse of the bridges, commuters and transporters said that they continually suffered financial losses due to mechanical fault on their vehicles.

Olalekan Aremu, one of the commercial drivers at the Maraba Motor Park Ilorin, plying the Tsaragi-Bacita road, called on government to ameliorate the suffering of both transporters and residents of the area to avoid total socioeconomic collapse in the affected communities. Aremu said that such communities like Bacita, Gonda, Manfu, Maamu, Emingbaji, Gbaguta, Bele, Fonangun, Patiogun, Ebama, Tuuku Lakanla, Buke in the Edu local government area would be cut off should the wooden bridges get washed away again, saying that it would be difficult for vehicles to get to all the areas.

"When it first collapsed during the rainy season last year, the people were collecting N500 on each vehicle that made use of the makeshift bridges and N100 on each motorcycle. It is now N200 for a vehicle and N100 for a motorcycle. Our vehicle usually got damaged due to the bad road and the nature of the bridges. It is sometimes very difficult to make vehicle pass through the bridge," he said.

He said that the transport fare between Ilorin and Bacita, which used to be N800 increased to N1200 due to the situation, fuel scarcity and bribes to law enforcement agents on the road.

In a recent statement, a human rights group known as Kwara Must Change, called the attention of the Kwara State government and the general public to the condition of the bridges.

The coordinator of the group, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, who described the bridges as a death trap, called on the state government to provide alternative road or reconstruct the bridges.

"Kwara Must Change is of the view that it is shameful that the Kwara State government allowed the bridges to collapse. How could such a disastrous development occur without the government feeling any sense of shame or responsibility? The fact that the people have lost so much confidence in the state government to an extent that they resorted to such a remedy says a lot and we sympathise with the people for their helplessness.

"While we maintain that the continuous use of this disastrous bridge, especially by vehicles is dangerous, we equally call on the Kwara State government to immediately take up its responsibility and provide alternative road for the people or reconstruct the bridge as soon as possible.

"Tsaragi and Bacita are very busy towns, both of whom has a large influx of people trooping in and out on daily basis. To imagine that these commercial centers are left with no access road is to say the least unfortunate.

"Kwara Must Change calls on all people of goodwill to help prevail on the Kwara State government to avert the impending disaster that may occur as a result of such death trap by quickly re-constructing the damaged bridges," the statement said.

Reacting to the development, the senior special assistant to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State on Media and Communication, Dr. Muideen Akorede said that the governor has approved the release of N53.3m for reconstruction at Kpandaragi and Ndafa Nuwon, both along Tsaragi-Bacita Road in Edu Local Government Area of the state.

"The ministry of Works has been mandated to move to site immediately to begin rehabilitation of the road", he said.