Jalingo-Wukari Highway: Motorists, Traders Accuse Gov Kefas Of Abandonment

Motorists and traders in Taraba State have accused the state governor, Agbu Kefas, of abandonment over his failure to fix the roads along Jalingo-Wukari Highway.

The people also urged Governor Kefas to support his Adamawa counterpart, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who recently rebuilt part of the road to ease the difficulties they face daily while they seek their daily bread. Fintiri recently constructed a collapsed bridge at the Gulak-Madagari federal highway.

Those who spoke to LEADERSHIP at the Namnai collapsed bridge site said markets in Wukari, Mutum-Biu, Iware, Garba-Chede, and Jalingo were losing millions of naira in value since several marketers and motorists abandoned the road due to the difficulties they experienced at the bridge while passing through it.

No government authority has indicated concern since the collapse of the Namnai bridge, which collapsed due to flooding activities over six months ago.

Speaking with our correspondent, motorists Mr Joseph Nwachukwu, Umaru Jankanda, and Afwekwu Mbaton said it is shocking that a bridge on a sensitive highway with thousands of passengers passing through it would collapse, and no government, state or federal, deemed it fit to attend to the problem for over six months.

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“Even if the federal government failed to construct the Namnai bridge, Taraba State Governor Agbu Kefas should quickly come to our aid. Moreover, most of the markets within the area are producing revenue for the state government. We never expected this bridge to go unattended for this long. We thought our governor would not abandon us this long,” Jankada stated in Hausa.

A rice miller, Ardo Iliasu, called on Governor Kefas to act like his Adamawa governor, who quickly reconstructed a collapsed bridge on a federal highway, the Gulak-Madagari highway, to ease his people’s sufferings.

“It is as if we don’t have elected leaders here in Taraba State. We have waited for over six months to see if our governor can decide to help reconstruct this Namnai bridge. He has remained silent. He has abandoned us as we pass through the difficulties of being overcharged in the transportation fares by motorists who have double transportation fares due to the charges they incur at the bridge while trying to cross over.

“They are not concerned because they travel through the air space. Our markets are losing value by the day because of this collapsed bridge. If Tinubu abandoned us, our own Kefas should not do the same. We suffered to vote for him, which is why he was voted into office as the governor of Taraba State. We can’t go through the same situation we went through when the bridge collapsed last year during rainy season,” he stated.

LEADERSHIP reports that the youths who have been empowered by politicians to construct an alternative local bridge at Namnai charge vehicles at least N5,000 each to cross over.