Eniola Olayemi
Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Sen. Philip Gyunka, has called on the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to expand the Nyanya/Mararaba road to ease persistent difficulties faced by residents.
Gyunka made the call in Abuja on Friday.
He expressed displeasure over neglect of the road, noting that this was in spite of the huge population in the area.
Gyunka said this on the backdrop of the committee’s oversight visit to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed Bello in Abuja.
He said it was disturbing that the plight of residents in satellite towns, particularly Nyanya and its environs were not put into consideration.
He added that residents of the area experienced gridlock on a daily basis because the numbers of lanes were not many enough to allow for free movement, especially vehicles.
“We visited the Federal Capital Territory and from records, 500 million dollars was taken as loan from China EXIM bank and other loans for FCT development.
“Part of the loans is to construct some network of roads for the FCT, to make for easy movement to and from work and to make FCT befitting of a federal capital.
“Unfortunately, most of the people working in the FCT who live around Karu, Nyanya, Maraba have not benefited from any of the loans.
“As we speak, there is only one access road to the area that needs expansion.
“The difficulty residents face on the road, as a result of gridlock, has a lot of negative impact on the output of civil servants in the various ministries.
“Sometimes, people that live in that axis do not get to work until 12 noon and the moment they get to their offices, the next thought is how to leave the office early to avoid gridlock.
“Invariably, the government is at the receiving end. The concern here is that government concentrates on Airport road which does not require as much attention as the Nnyanya-Mararaba road,” he said.
The lawmaker further noted with concern that the lives of thousands of Nigerians residents in the area were often at risk whenever there were security concerns.
According to him, the recent confrontation between security agencies and the Shi’ite group in the area does not only cripple activities but leave many residents trapped.
The vice-chairman called for prioritisation of infrastructure for the benefit of the people.
He said the committee would embark on more oversights, particularly to project sites, to ascertain the level of work vis-a-vis the amount of loan collected for projects.
