Niger State caucus of Federal lawmakers on Tuesday, cried out to the Federal government of Nigeria, seeking declaration of state of emergency on roads in the State.
Flanked by lawmakers from the state, Chairman of the caucus, Senator Sabi Abdulahi at a press briefing explained that all federal and state roads in the state have collapsed.
Expressing concern that the state would be completely cut off anytime soon, lawmakers appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari for special funds for repairs, adding that commercial activities of the people in the area had been affected.
“We have three Senators and ten House of Representatives members from Niger State and are here to intimate you on the happenings on our roads in Niger State.
“We are here to cry out over deplorable state of the roads in Niger and like you are all aware, we are located in the North Central Nigeria and we have trunk A road network that link Minna to Kaduna, Minna to Suleja, Minna to Kebbi, Minna to Kwara and all these roads are unmotorable.
Sabi explained that the roads became deplorable due to torrential rainfall and heavyweight vehicles plying those roads.
According to him, a section of the State road leading Minna to Bida broke down, thereby putting pressure on a single lane by heavy trucks.
“These roads became very bad due to heavy vehicles. Bida to Minna road which is the state government road was cut off twice due to torrential rain fall.
“The story was that a section has broken down and vehicles have to sleep at nights while travelling and this has negatively affected the economic status of Nigerlites.
“We have done our best as lawmakers, but we have to cry out for our citizens to know that we are concerned about the roads.
“The state government tried to stabilise the road, but no sooner than a section of it collapsed because vehicles plying that roads carry over weight goods.
They insisted that the declaration of the state of emergency was a reflection of government’s interest on those roads, saying that they were aware of policies that all roads from any state that has boundaries with the Federal Capital Territory must carry dual carriage way.
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