By Joseph Kingston
Calabar
A non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Ajaokuta Advocacy Forum for Good Governance (AFG), has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to direct the relevant agencies to reconstruct the collapsed sections of the Ajaokuta-Adogo-Okene road.
In a Save Our Soul (SOS), letter addressed to the Federal Ministry of Works and Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), and signed by the chairman and publicity secretary of the group, Salami Raimi and Tijani Alidu, respectively, said the road had become a haven for armed robbers and other notorious criminals terrorising people on daily basis.
They pointed out that the road was the only link between some states in the North-central, South-west and South-south Nigeria, saying that motorists and commuters who plied the route do that at great pain and risk since it had become the last resort.
The group further stated that the road is equally the only asses to the several multi-billion federal government projects in the area, like the Ajaokuta Steel Company, the Geregu Power Plant Phases One and Two among others, saying that “these critical investments of government are key to economic development of the nation and as such require easy asses.”
The group said the road had collapsed completely at some stretch, maintaining that “it is only the timely intervention of the relevant agencies that can save the people from their present pains and agony.”
While commending FERMA and the Federal Ministry of Works for its quality intervention in some sections of the road, and similar federal roads across the country, the group, however, noted that the call had become necessary, “as this particular road has claimed more lives than the dreaded HIV/AIDS in recent time.”
They noted that the intervention of the Ajaokuta local government on the road had not brought the desired relief, “considering the huge resources required to fix this federal road.”
