John Adams, Minna

Worried by the deplorable conditions of the Minna-Bida road and the slow pace of the construction work on the road, Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello has ordered the closure of the road and other state roads to trailers, tankers and other articulated vehicles with effect from Tuesday, September 15.

The Governor, who personally supervised the closure of the road at the Bida end of the road at a brief ceremony on Tuesday, said the decision to closed the road to all these categories of vehicles is to allow the construction company handle the rehabilitation work speed up the job.

The Governor, accompanied by members of the state Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Committee head by the Chief of Staff to the government house, Mallam Ibrahim Balarabe, and state Executive members, personally pulled down the iron barricades to signal the official closure of the road at Bida, and appealed to the public to cooperate with the government as the decision was not a deliberate one but for the good of all, including those affected.

Other state roads closed alongside the Minna-Bida road includes, Lapai-Paiko, Chanchaga Bridge-Maikunkele, Muye-Lapai, and Zungeru-Wushishi roads.

The Governor pointed out that the decision to closed these roads was taken after series of meetings with the relevant stakeholders following complains by the construction company handling the rehabilitation work over the activities of the heavy trucks on the road.

The rehabilitation work on the 82 kilometers Minna-Bida road was awarded to Dantata and Sowoe in February this year at the cost of N23.4 billion with a completion period of 18 months.

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Seven months later, only about five percent of the work have been achieved, and the construction company attributed the slow pace of work to the heavy volume vehicles traffic, especially trailers, trucks and other articulated vehicles.

The government assured that the restriction of articulated vehicles on the state roads would be effective ‘because series of critical stakeholders meetings have been held and the stakeholders are in support of the decision stressing that the closure only affects the state-owned roads.’

The Governor however warned that any articulated vehicle caught violating the restriction order “will have themselves to blame as the government has made widespread publicity and consultations on its closure”.
He therefore enjoined its citizens to show some level of understanding as it is not unaware of the inconveniences the restriction will cause, adding that ‘this decision is in the over all interest of the general public who go through hardship piling the road everyday.’

Some of the truck drivers who witnessed the official closure of the road, applauded the government for embarking on the rehabilitation of the road that was last attended to over 20 years ago, saying that they are in full support hoping that the restriction will bring about the desired result.

A trailer direr, Yusuf Ahmed, who was coming from Bauchi State but was caught up in the barricade in the presence of the Governor, said he couldn’t meet the deadline because of an accident on the road which delayed his journey but appealed for consideration.

Considering the current development, it is obvious that the initial 18 dry months time frame for completion of the road may no longer feasible as such the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure has been directed to adopt measures to enable the contractors complete the project on a good time.