Commuters traveling through Lafia- Akwanga Federal Highway linking North—East parts of the country were yesterday left stranded for several hours, following the triennial rain fall that flooded the highway making it impossible for vehicular movement within Lafia Akwanga road.
Flooding in Port Harcourt after heavy rainfall. File photo
Vanguard recalled that the rain, which began at the early hours of Friday lasted until early hours of Saturday, leaving the only highway linking Abuja, Jos and other parts of the north flooded at the time of filling this report.
Both the commuters and the residents of Lafia, Akwanga and its environs called on the Federal Government to find solution to the situation, which they attributed to the narrow nature of the high.
A businessman, Mr. Joshua Abiku who was travelling from Benue to Abuja and had been stock for hours waiting for the flood to subside since the only road connecting the area was completely submerged.
“This has been a reoccurring issue on this road year in year out without government attention, we want the government to dualize this road or create a bypass to serve as an alternative route along this axis, in case of occurrences of this nature.” Abiku lamented.
Another commuter, Rev. Steve Shama, described the situation as pathetic and called on the Federal Government to urgently address the situation, to avert the loss of useful hours caused by the flood.
He expressed concern that if the situation was not addressed urgently, the road stood the risk of being washed off with another heavy rain.
“As you can see I am going to Abuja for a very important engagement and I have been trapped here for over four hours no alternative route, a federal high.” he declared.
Similarly, Mr Benson Musa, who was on his way going jos expressed shock over the incident, saying the risk of plying the route was very high.
“The current of water here can wash off houses not to talk of vehicles, hence I am appealing to the government to work on this portion of the road by constructing a bridge here,” he said.
According to John Gbatima, a resident of Makurdi said that they had never witnessed such flood in the area and appealed for government’s urgent intervention.
“As a resident of of Benue state, I have never seen such incident in this area and I am calling on the government to act quickly to avert further devastation and hardship for commuters along the road,” Abdulkadir said.
He also cautioned irrigation farmers in the area to desist from farming along the waterways to prevent blockage.
When contacted, the Federal Controller, in charge of Nasarawa State, Mr Taiwo Wasiu said he was away on an official assignment in Abuja.
Wasiu however promised to reach out to his officers to assess the situation and the extent of destruction caused by the flooding in the state.
Vanguard
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