NAN-H-53
Repair
By Kate Obande
Abuja, Oct. 24, 2016 (NAN) Some residents of Nyanya, FCT, and Mararaba, Nasarawa State, have criticised the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) for carrying out the ongoing road rehabilitation work along the Abuja-Keffi at day time.
The respondents told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews that FERMA’s approach to the work was causing a lot of traffic and further inconveniencing residents of that axis.
Mr Ekoja Odeh, a Civil Servant, suggested that doing the work at night when road users were few would be ideal and ensure a more effective and efficient job.
“ In those days when we were growing up, road construction and repair were done at night and people just wake up to a good road in the morning.
“They should time their repair to the night hours like 11p.m. to 2 a.m. when the road is less busy.
“FERMA knows very well that this Abuja-Keffi road is very busy and they still came and block the road, creating only one lane for people to pass.
“We are already suffering too much on this road; so, FERMA should not add to our plight.”
Odeh further advised the agency to always create the necessary awareness whenever they wanted to engage in road repairs, to enable people to plan their movement in order to avoid traffic.
Also, Mrs Funmi Adewale, another resident, also FERMA to be proactive in attending to bad portions on roads.
Adewale said that roads should be repaired when little cracks were noticed, to avoid traffic chaos.
“This Keffi-Abuja road is terrible a journey of 45 minutes takes three hours and FERMA came and blocked road again due to repair.
“The roads should be regularly monitored and maintained frequently, to prevent a deplorable state of the roads.”
Adewale appealed to the Federal government to adequately fund the agency, to enable it to effectively perform its function.
She also called on the government to speed up the construction of another road to link the suburbs to the city centre, to ease traffic on the Abuja-Keffi road.
She observed that travelling during to forthcoming festive period would be compromised, if the deplorable roads across the federation were not speedily repaired.
Meanwhile, Mrs Caroline Opara, while commending FERMA for its efforts in alleviating the sufferings of the people, appealed to the FCT authorities to complement the agency.
Opara also advised that road repair should be done at a time when users were less, particularly at night, instead of causing unnecessary traffic that could lead to the loss of productive time during the day.
She noted that the effect of gridlock was enormous as it impacts negatively on human health as well as car engines. (NAN)
KTE/GOM/NNKO
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Edited by Gregory Mmaduakolam/Nkechi Okoronkwo
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