The link road between Kogi and Ekiti states have slowly deteriorated over the past years and it is mostly due to the frequency with which heavy duty vehicles now ply these parts.
Some parts of the route have all but been cut off and constitute a death trap not only for commuters, but locals who live around the area.
In this special report, Correspondent Habidah Lawal takes a look at the grim circumstances these communities have to face.
Locals living in communities around Kabba in Kogi state, and Ekiti North communities of Omuo, Itaji, Ayede, Ijesha-Isu, Odo Oro and Ikole Ekiti have tales of woe to tell.
In ŕecent times, their livelihoods have been disrupted due to the sudden influx of heavy duty vehicles through their route who have destroyed the roads linking the two states, essentially cutting them off from economic life.
The ongoing rainy season, have further worsened the already poor state of federal roads in Ekiti.
Commuters, livestock, haulage and goods are often stuck on this critical linkage route between the north and south of Nigeria for hours, even days, due to blockage at times in key sections along thìs critical road.
Coming from Abuja, we are witness to how dilapidated the roads are once we link unto Kabba.
But we are not prepared for how really terrible it gets once we get into Ekiti state, who appears to bear the greater brunt of the road crisis.
Ekiti, a small state with traditionally well paved roads, has during this rainy season experienced a sudden influx of heavy duty trucks, trailers, LPG and LNG articulated vehicles.
This is due to the poor state of the main Trunk A road that connects Lagos to Ore to Lokoja, which has irretrievably broken down after many years of little or no maintenance.
The inevitable use of Ekiti’s smaller alternative Trunk A roads, built more than thirty years ago and having exceeded their design life, has led to the pain and suffering of road users over the past year.
Ngozi Okechukwu, and Nkechiyenre are sisters into the business of selling Irish Potatoes produce, their truck toppled over on this road spilling it’s contents.
They tell me they’ve been here for five days with no help in sight to move their goods.
Their driver Muhammed Musa has reached out to his employer to send another vehicle which is yet to arrive.
On this road, several vehicles conveying livestock breakdown and the animals get lost in transit
Several of the live animals, stuck on the road for days, look as emaciated as their human carriers.
The pain and suffering have since extended to the locals, who protest that the heavy traffic gridlock on the road have since become an albatross on economic progress, with access cut off and economic activities grinding to a halt.
Their protest to the Ajoni Secretariat is to register their grievances over their inability to carry out their daily business.
In an area where power is as rare as good life, Villagers complain of vices, inability to transport farm goods to neighboring commercial towns and missed family connection opportunities as relatives have abandoned coming home due to the dilapidated roads.
Foodstuff go rotten and the state of the road affects fuel supply to Abuja and Northern corridors of Nigeria, as well as food and livestock to Lagos.
