John Adams, Minna

Residents of Niger State are bemoaning the state of rural roads in the area, which they claim is pathetic

Niger State has the largest land mass and the highest number of federal, state and rural roads in the country.

For years, roads in Niger, notably rural ones, have been in a state of complete disrepair, making intra-community transportation a near impossible task.

To ameliorate the situation, the past administration of Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu awarded contracts for the construction of 10 kilometres of roads in each of the 25 local government areas at the cost of N8billion. Unfortunately, only 20 per cent of the project, which was concentrated only at the local government headquarters, was achieved.

The bad roads have badly affected the economy of the rural communities, as goods cannot be moved easily to the urban cities.

Aliyu Dauda Kontagora, a businessman who deals in farm produce, said one of the major challenges facing the rural people is how to move their farm produce to the market.

“Roads hold the key to social and economic lives of the people. I have over 15 years experience doing business of buying and selling of farm produce from the hinterlands and I can tell you that access road remain a major challenge to the people,” he said.

He recalled that the last time rural communities in the country enjoyed some level of respite in the area of access roads was the days of the defunct Directorate of Foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DIFRRI). ‘Since then, every successful government at all levels in Nigeria has paid little or no attention to rural roads.”

In 2013, some collaboration between the World Bank and French Development Agency (AFD) gave birth to the Rural Access Mobility Projects (RAMP) in some selected states, including Niger.  And gradually, rural roads are being rebuilt in the state.

The RAMP has as its components, the upgrading and rehabilitation of rural transport infrastructure, community-based road maintenance and annual mechanized maintenance, projects management and strengthening of state and federal road sector institutional, policy and regulatory framework.

The main objectives of the RAMP is to among other things, improve transport conditions and bring sustained access to the rural population through rehabilitating and maintaining key rural transport infrastructure in a sustainable manner in selected Nigeria states.

All the rural roads projects are to be co-financed by the government of the benefiting states.

The Niger State Coordinator of RAMP, Alhaji Hassan Baba Etsu told the correspondent in Minna that the rural roads project was flagged off in the state in 2013. He said about 579 kilometres of rural roads across the three senatorial districts of the state have since received attention. He said under the RAMP 1, about 176 kilometres of rural roads have been rehabilitated, including 30 river-crossing(bridges and culverts at the cost of N2.4billion.

Alhaji Etsu explained that the objective of the intervention was to improve transportation among the rural dwellers and ease the movement of goods and services from the hinterland.

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He explained that 391 communities across the three senatorial districts of the state have so far been linked courtesy of the programme.

The coordinator noted that of the 403-kilometre rural road project under the RAMP 11, about 213.5 kilometres have been completed, including 20 river-crossing bridges and culverts.

He told the reorter that the state government, in conjunction with the World Bank and the French development partner would expend N7.4billion on the construction of 403 kilometres under the second phase of the projects.

The state  project coordinator stated that since 2013 when the programme was flagged off  till date, the state government has committed N1.6 billion as it counterpart contributions. He said the state government has also approved additional N6 billion for surface dressing of the entire RAMP roads in the state so as to increase their lifespan, as the RAMP projects do not include surface dressing.”

According to Baba Etsu, the RAMP through the numerous roads projects, has also created about 315 direct jobs for youths in those rural communities under the community-based road maintenance scheme. Each of the youths gets a N20, 000 stipend per month.

He informed that this is different from the 728, 891 people who are already benefiting from the rural intervention by way of movement of goods and services. He explained that the rural roads intervention has also led to drastic reduction  in maternal mortality rate within those communities by as much as 60 per cent, and has also increased school enrolment  by four per cent.

Alhaji Danlani Mohammed, Village Head of Sabon Daga, which is one of the benefiting communities from the RAMP projects in Boss Local Government area, told our correspondent that before the construction of the 15-metre bridge linking the communities, the people were usually cut off during the rainy season.

This situation, he said, has led to the loss of lives of some pregnant women in the community who could not be taken to the hospital while in labour due to absence of bridges.

The construction of the 15 kilometre bridge by RAMP after close to 30 years since the only make-shift bridge put together through communal efforts was washed away is therefore a great relief.

“We have suffered in this community due to lack of a bridge. We could not take our women to the hospital during rainy season. To move our goods to the market is also a problem.

“This is a great relief to us in this community. We thank the government for coming to our rescue,” he submitted.

The coordinator further told the reporter: “We have embarked on this projects because we believe that service to the people should not be limited to the urban cities alone. The foundation for any sustainable growth and development of any society lies in the grassroots where the majority of the people reside.

He noted that feeder roads have direct impact on the economic activities at the grassroots. “That will no doubt facilitate the improvement of the quality of lives of the people, which is the focus of the administration”.

He solicited the assistance of the federal government towards facilitating the completion of all ongoing federal road projects in the state, especially the ongoing Minna-Suleja dual carriageway, noting that even though the contract was awarded since 2013, only about 30 per cent of work has been done so far.