By Stephen Adeleye.
Some stakeholders and community leaders in Lokoja, have urged the Federal Government to construct a bridge that will directly link Ganaja to Shintaku community in Bassa Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Some of the stakeholders who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, said the construction of the bridge would alleviate the yearly sufferings and hardships being expanded by the citizens and motorists as a result of the incessant annual flooding in the area.
The National Chairman of Forum of States’ Health Educators in Nigeria, Alhaji Yusuf Acheku, noted that lots of communities had been cut off from Ganaja village and many motorists stranded for days as a result of flooding.
According to Acheku, from Ganaja road at 500 Housing Units to across the River Niger is the Shintaku town in Bassa LGA; and from Shintaku, you can go to Anyigba in Dekina LGA which also leads to other States like Anambra, Enugu among others.
“So, our call to federal government is to construct bridge from Ganaja village to Shintaku community in Bassa.
“Though we have Itobe Bridge that links the Eastern part of Kogi, but we cannot meet up with the congestion due to flood.
“Look at the way people are suffering on canoes to cross the river as a result of flood; so, I think the only option is for the FG to construct this bridge linking Shintaku in Bassa LGA.
“The bridge will go a long way to help us as a people, state and the nation at large because of its economic importance. This is a yearly thing and it is beyond the state government.
“Some trucks laden with goods and commodities have been stuck here since last week, so we want FG’s quick intervention,” Acheku said.
Speaking on the health implications of the flood disaster, Acheku who doubles as the Kogi State Health Educator, said they had gone round to sensitise the people on the need to be very careful with the flood because it could come with reptiles and water borne diseases.
“We have also sensitised them that Covid-19 is real and the need for them to strictly adhered to all the precautionary measures against the pandemic.
“As a health promoter, I am here to tell our people that they should be careful and maintain personal hygiene because this water is not good for consumption,” Acheku said.
Also speaking, Mr Amodu Yakubu, the Chairman, 500 Housing Units, Lokoja, noted that there had been incessant flooding in this part of the state for too long, which had always brought untold hardships to the people of Kogi including the travelers.
“As we all know Kogi State borders many states in the north in the south because a lot of them pass through this particular road.
“We can see here that the flood has cut this area from other parts of the state.
“Due to the annual nature of this flood, we are calling on the FG and the State alike to seek out measures by constructing overhead bridge as a bypass for the flood, or construct the Ganaja-Shintaku bridge which will help a long way for economic purposes.
“So, we call on the FG in their magnanimity to come to the aid of the people to alleviate their sufferings on yearly basis.
“It will also alleviate the sufferings of the people on annual basis because this flood will continue to come.
“We want the FG to first construct an overhead bridge from 500 Unit to Ganaja to bypass the flood.
“Secondly, to construct bridge from Ganaja to Shintaku in Bassa across River Niger, which will improve the economic status and value of the state and Nigeria at large,” Amodu said.
On his part, Mr Salihu Abdulkareem, the Secretary General, 500 Housing Units, noted that right from 2012 that the state first experienced the first shock of the flood disaster in Lokoja.
He stressed that the flood had since then become an annual event that caused lots of damages and paralysed economic activities.
According to Abdulkareem, this road is also a link between the north and the south, and motorists have been using our estate as a bypass route to get to their destinations, which has made our roads to be in a more deplorable form.
“The long term measures is the construction of this bridge from Ganaja to Shintaku in Bassa which will lead to the East; the Kilometers should be about 5km across the River Niger.
“The other short term help too, is to construct overhead bridge to bypass the flood to Ganaja village. So, we are appealing to the federal government to help us,” he said.
Many motorists and travelers especially trucks laden with goods and commodities had been stranded on Ganaja road for past two weeks as there are no other route to take to get to their various destinations.
Hence, the need for them to pack on the road and wait till the flood recede.
