By joshua 
Concerned stakeholders in Kogi State at a meeting are worried over the non completion of the Ganaja Junction to Ganaja village road. Ganaja is a suburb of Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
The Lokoja Ganaja road, is a major gateway route linking the North to the Eastern and Southern parts of Nigeria from the North was awarded under the special repairs project by the Federal Government. The rehabilitation of the road project commenced in November, 2020, with a twelve months completion period.
The problem with the road began in 2012 when Lokoja went under water following the flooding that affected most states. Ever since then, the road lost strength, with the need for regular repairs, particularly with the articulated and heavy duty trucks plying the road.
The stakeholders of Ganaja village made up of drivers, commuters, traditional rulers, community and opinion molders at a meeting last week, expressed worry that following the intensity of the rains, it has made the road virtually impassable.
The meeting was also attended by the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), the Nigeria Police, Media professionals and representatives of the contractors, representatives.
The stakeholders meeting was called at the instance of Engr Jimoh Kajogbola, the Federal Controller of Works and Housing following reported plans of a mass protest by the stakeholders because of the delay in the completion.
The Federal Controller, said he is not in the picture of the total project cost of the project, neither the contract sum for each of the contractors since the contract he said was directly awarded to them by the Federal Government. He however said the first portion of the Lokoja-Ganaja Special Repairs of 2km was awarded to Messrs Frosh Nig. Ltd. has attained 100 per cent completion.
“The second portion of 3km was awarded to Messrs. Aimuk Logistic Concept. Ltd. has reached 74.93 per cent completion.
“The third part of the project 2.8km is being handled by Messrs Rufelis Investments Ltd., has attained only 38.56 per cent completion.’’
The Controller however explained that with the work done thus far and from the length of the road, a total length of 56% of the road has been completed. What is left for the work to be completed he added is another 44% with the contractors expected to carry out drainage repairs at 500 Unit to Texaco junction, while a total excavation, stone base, increase the height of the road and asphalting is to be carried out in the Hotel 69 end of the road.
The Controller explained that the road project is still uncompleted because of delay in release of funds. He added that two other contractors were added to the earlier three at the end of 2021, said the project also suffers from poor design.
The Controller said following the delay expressed by his Ministry and the stakeholders, two of the earlier contractors awarded the road have had there Contract revoked, expressed optimism that with by September when the rain would have gone down and the efforts of the new contractors the work would be completed.
Presently, many of the commercial vehicles plying the route owing to the decrepit nature of the road, no longer ply the route according to Baba Ijesha one of the Operator.
” We have since packed up our cars when we discovered that we were becoming regular visitors to mechanics. Until something is done we have resolved to stop plying the road”.
The action by the commercial vehicle owners is more worrisome as it caused hardship for the citizens. This is because they hardly ply the road and only the few that still operate on the route, charge exorbitant prices above the reach of passengers.
According to Jamiu Bello, who lives at 500 unit end of Ganaja, ” the road has also become a safe haven for criminals. The vandalize broken down vehicles and make away with properties of vehicle owners trapped in gridlocks has now become a daily occurrence”.
For Samson Apeh, a resident of Ganaja while speaking at the stakeholders meeting, said, ” the Ganaja road is the worst in the state. It is disheartening for a road that is within the State capital to wear such a terrible look”.
” Previous administration in the state have had to fix the road because of the socio economic impact and it location within the 16km radius of the State capital. Our appeal is for the administration of Gov. Yahaya Bello to come to our aid and help fix the road even though it is a federal road”.
On daily basis several deaths are recorded on the Ganaja road due to ghastly accident. The FRSC in Kogi Sector Commander, Friday Olushola puts the accident occuring on the road as between four to five. He blamed the accident owing to the bad road.
According to Sunday Ichaba, ” motorists now drive on single lane. This has endangered the lives of commuters who are daily knocked down by vehicles driving against traffic. Salihu Egbiti, and Useni Kandi last week died as a result of drivers using the single lane”.
The contractors had left site in December with the promise to resume in January 2022 after going for the usual Christmas break. None of the Contractors has returned to site another reason that has raised very strong indication by the stakeholders to develop fears of possible abandonment. Presently, there is no sign of equipments and men of the contracting company on the site.
Stakeholders at the meeting blamed the poor supervision by the Supervising Ministry, the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing as what has given rise to the poor work quality and delay of work.
But speaking at the meeting on the allegation of non supervision, one of the supervising Engineers, Karim Iliyasu said aside the non release of funds to the contracting firms, some challenging aspect of the work was not captured in the work design initially, an action that has affected the pace of work. He stressed that the construction work was abandoned majorly for lack of funds.
A Labour leader and resident of the Ganaja village road, Comr. Opaluwa Eleojo also lamented the delay as well as the poor quality of work done. He pointed out that going by what is contained in the bill of quantity, expressed dismay that the contractors employed manual processing in highly Technical work. He lamented the use of wheel barrows by men to do work that machines would needed for road construction work.
A Community leader, Etsu Ganaja Hassan Sanni, lamented that it is on heard of for a 7km road to be shared amongst five contractors, claimed that the work done in quantity and quality may not be commensurate to the amount budgeted and released for the contractors. He fingered the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in ensuring quality and standard.
The Federal Controller however denied all the allegations, assured that the contractors would return to site after the rains. He expressed optimism that funds will be released, assured of early completion of the road.
The Federal Controller acknowledged the delay, however urged the Community to resist the temptation of embarking on protest over poor execution of road projects said it is in the larger interest of the State to maintain peace.
The Controller was however not forthcoming on the total amount budgeted and released for the project which stakeholders claimed was enough to complete the road. He disclosed that many contractors were involved in the road repairs and owing to variation it will be difficult arriving at the amount now.
More worrisome according to the Controller was that two new contractors, though he didn’t disclose there names, he said were added to work on the road at the end of 2021.
He said they two contractors were added to enable them handle and address the noticed challenges some affecting the work. He however said the areas that needed major work were however not included in the earlier drawing, a challenge, that led to review and reevaluation, reason why the project he added is slow as noticed by the stakeholders.
The Controller added that the directives to stop work last year was a directive from the Minister to help ease the sufferings of travelers who were traveling for the Christmas and New Year celebration.
The Controller disclosed that two of the contractors had been issued warning letters to avoid further delay, assured that the ministry would leave no stone unturned in delivering quality jobs.
The spokesman of the contractors, Mr Ben Ikyo, who was at the meeting, pledged more efforts towards ensuring timely completion of the rehabilitation works, a promise that was not accepted by the stakeholders.
According to the Contractor, ‘ lack of funds is militating against the completion as well as the pace of work’.
For now weak supervision and release of funds has stall the 7.5km Ganaja road reconstruction with
citizens having to live with the harrowing experience of the Ganaja road and hope that the contractors would return to site soonest.