Declare State Of Emergency On Benue Road Linking North, South

The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to declare an emergency on the Naka- Makurdi-Aliade-Gboko and Aliade-Otukpo Federal Road Network in Benue State, linking the Northern and Southern parts of the country.

The House also asked the supervising Ministry to direct the Federal Road Maintenance Agency to immediately commence restorative work on the road axis, as a security and strategic economic imperative.

This followed the unanimous adoption of a motion moved by Austin Asema Achado (APC, Benue) at plenary on Wednesday.

Moving the motion, Achado said the Naka-Makurdi-Aliade-Gboko and Aliade-Otukpo Federal Road Network constitutes the major road axis linking the North East and the North Central regions of the nation to the South-South and the South- East through Benue State, the agricultural belt of the country.

The lawmaker said the condition of the federal road network has become an albatross and a huge embarrassment to the farming communities, other strategic users and commuters that transit goods
through Benue State.

He expressed concern
that the strategic road axis has become so dilapidated that it is now tagged a death-trap and security threat to all contiguous citizens that use it for transportation of grains and yams from Benue to the Southern and Northern States of the nation.

Achado said apart from reducing those commercial activities as a result of high rate of accidents on the road and loss of man hours, the poor condition has drastically increased activities of criminals, armed robbery and kidnapping, which have become more frequent due to the poor condition of the road.

“Concerned that the acute neglect of the road network has been ignored for so long despite the havoc it wrecks on the nation’s food security, especially at this moment of increasing economic pressure on the rural population, further fueled by the growing cost of transportation, arising from the
recent fuel subsidy removal, thus making it imperative to urgently address the menace of the Road Network.

“Convinced that an emergency intervention to restore the Naka-Makurdi- Aliade-Gboko and AliadeOtukpo Federal Road Network, has both security and economic implications that should be immediately addressed,” he stated.

Adopting the motion, the House urged the Federal Ministry of Works to ensure that adequate budgetary provision is made in the 2024 budget to comprehensively address the deplorable road and mandate the Committee on Works (when constituted to ensure implemention.

Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji