Cecilia Onah, Lafia
Youth leaders of Shupe and Atabula communities in the Obi local government area of Nasarawa state, have raised concerns over the poor handling and delay in construction of the Gude-Shupe-Atabula-Obi road.
The youth leaders in a save our soul called on the state government to investigate why the project was delayed.
Gude-Shupe-Atabula-Obi road was one of the projects flagged off to mark Governor Abdullahi Sule’s 100 days in office, as one of his rural infrastructure development programmes.
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In an interview with The Dune Newspaper in Obi LGA on Tuesday, the youth leaders alleged that the project contractor had siphoned the funds made available to him for the construction of the road and abandoned the project.
Portion of the abandoned Gude-Shupe-Atabula-Obi road project.
The youth leader of Shupe community, Comrade Ajeh Yakubu said, “We have run out of patience, waiting for the completion of the road. Youths in my community have been threatening to protest because they recently heard the Governor saying that the road project has been completed.
“We wonder who is feeding the Governor with this kind of lie because I can authoritatively tell you that the project has long been abandoned. We don’t even know where to find the contractor and other workers any longer because they stopped coming to site a long time ago.
“We are appealing to Governor Abdullahi Sule to come to our aide by ensuring the completion of the road especially now that we are approaching the rainy season because it is usually not easy for us to go to our work places to look for our daily bread whenever the rain falls.”
On his part, the youth leader of Atabula community, Makama Ogidis, said the rate of accidents on the Gude -Shupe-Atabula-Obi road was becoming unbearable, and called on the state government to swiftly complete the road project.
He said, “We were happy with the Governor when he flagged off the road project in his first one hundred days in office but the same road has been abandoned. Instead of completing the job, the contractor disappeared and since then, we have not seen any of the workers on site.
“I am very concerned on this matter because of the challenges that we have been facing since the road was abandoned. So many people have been involved in accidents and incurred injuries of various degrees.
“As I speak now, the rains of the previous years have washed away some culverts built for the road by the construction company. Our communities have been exposed to environmental hazards due to the poor work done on the road.
“I am appealing to the Governor to visit the site in order to inspect the level of work done by the contractor, just as he has been visiting other projects flagged off by his administration in other LGAs of the state.
“I strongly believe that if he comes here to see the road, it will be completed in the shortest possible time.”
