Bridges and roads are critical infrastructure that make the movement of people and goods from one location to another easy. However, in recent months, communities across many parts of the country have been grappling with the devastating impact of floods that have washed away bridges and cut off vital road networks. In this report, Weekend Trust looks at how the destruction of bridges and roads are taking tolls on the people.
Commuters in communities cut off from others by multiple incidents of bridge collapse have been crying over the situation they found themselves. Weekend Trust correspondents who visited some of the collapsed bridges and damaged roads found that most of them had lasted for years without proper attention.
In Plateau State, Kufai bridge, located near Yelwa community in Shendam Local Government Area (LGA), was built over three decades ago, serving as a crucial link for motorists and pedestrians in the southern part of the state.
A significant volume of water passes under the bridge, especially during the rainy season, making its structural integrity, which is crucial for the safety of users, shaky. Commuters within and outside the state frequently use the bridge for social and economic purposes.
People moving from Plateau to either Nasarawa or Taraba States rely on the bridge, as well as truck drivers carrying food items to the Northeast and Northwest.
Unfortunately, with the collapse of the bridge, it has become extremely challenging for road users to cross the river, particularly during the rainy season when the water volume is high.
Those familiar with the route often wait for the water level to subside before attempting to maneuver through the river, posing significant risk to their safety and livelihood.
This precarious situation underscores the urgent need for the reconstruction of the bridge to restore connectivity and ensure a continued flow of goods and services across the region.
Our correspondent reports that the bridge collapsed in 2022 but remained in a state of disrepair until this year when a partial repair was undertaken in a bid to restore its functionality.
But residents and commuters claim that barely two weeks after the repair, the bridge collapsed again in August during a heavy rainfall that washed away the makeshift work, causing significant difficulties for road users, who now face treacherous conditions and increased travel times.
Motorists lament that more often than not, when they reach the bridge, they pay labourers to push their vehicles to the other side of the road before continuing their journey.
A resident of the community, Wayu Bamga said: ‘The collapse of the bridge has been causing hardship. We have been struggling. The government should please come to our aid because the situation here is very difficult without the bridge. The bridge initially collapsed last year and a partial repair was done, but it didn’t work. That is why it collapsed again’.
Another resident of the community, Nanlong Nyas said: ‘I remember that last week, the bridge was repaired, but after the recent rainfall, it collapsed again. We have been suffering to cross the river with goods’.
A regular user of the bridge, Celina Nankup, also pleaded for urgent repairs by the government.
A driver who plies the route regularly, Umar Sa’adu complained that, ‘the collapse of the bridge is causing a lot of hardship for people like us that use it on a daily basis. People passing from Shendam to Garkuwa are not finding it easy at all. It is very challenging’.
Abubakar Haruna, another driver complained: ‘This bridge collapsed since 2022. I ply the road, but anytime I get to this point, it is never an easy thing for us, forcing other people to seek an alternative’.
One year after the collapse of Namne bridge, along Jalingo-Wukari, a Trunk A road in Taraba State, the state and Federal Governments have not done anything to address the suffering of thousands of travellers plying the road.
It was learnt that promises by the Federal Government, Governor Agbu Kefas, whose hometown, Wukari, is located along the road, and the North East Development Commission to reconstruct the bridge have not been fulfilled.
The bridge, which collapsed after a heavy rainfall in August 2024, links states in the Northeast to Southeast, Southwest, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa States.
There is a diversion of goods and services on trucks and luxurious buses, which had thrived for over 43 years, to Garba-Chede town.
However, only small vehicles, such as motorcycles and people pass through the river near the collapsed bridge on engine boats and canoes on charges by ferry operators. It is said that in the past, over 1,000 people plied the route in a day.
Findings by Weekend Trust revealed that the cost of transportation and prices of essential items have gone up as result of the distance drivers cover before reaching their destinations.
Vehicle owners and commuters now face additional delay in their journey, as well as the danger involved in crossing the river on ferries as many people are unfamiliar with the movement inside a ferry.
A commercial vehicle driver, Adamu Hamman, recalled an ugly incident where a pregnant woman and a three-year-old child were on the engine boat ferrying them across and it capsized.
Findings further revealed that not long ago, more than 50 vehicles fell from boats into the river, resulting in the destruction and loss of passengers’ properties in the water.
Another driver, Adamu Jafaru, complained that boat operators were exploiting vehicle owners by charging them high fees to cross their vehicles – from N4,000 during the dry season to N6,000 when the water level rises.
Muhammed Umar, another driver, said he plied the road three to four times every day, and on each crossing, he would pay N3,000. He called on the federal government to rebuild the bridge to ease the movement of goods and services.
A trader from the eastern part of the country, Felix James, said it’s unfair for the federal government not to fix the bridge for traders who transport goods to Taraba, Gombe and Bauchi states.
James advised stakeholders in Taraba State, including the governor, minister and members of the National Assembly, to mount pressure and lobby, as well as send a high-powered committee to see the president over the bridge so that immediate and permanent solution would be provided.
The Senator representing Taraba Central, Alhaji Haruna Manu said that there were ongoing efforts to ensure that work on the bridge begins.
Manu said that apart from raising the matter on the floor of the Senate under Matters of Urgent Importance, he visited the Federal Road Maintenance Agency last year and discussed the need for a speedy reconstruction of the bridge.
The senator further said that stakeholders from the state were concerned about the bridge, and called on President Bola Tinubu to listen to the cry of the people of Taraba State by approving the immediate construction of the bridge, just like Larmurde bridge in Adamawa State.
Also, the member representing Bali/Gassol federal constituency, Hon. Ja’faru Yakubu Chiroma said he had equally raised the issue of Namnai bridge on the floor of the House of Representatives under Matters of Urgent Importance and begged the Federal Government to urgently construct the bridge.
The lawmaker disclosed that immediately after the bridge collapsed on 23 August last year, he mobilised two ferries to the site to assist motorists in crossing the river without cost.
Investigation also revealed that three more bridges in the state are on the verge of collapse, namely, Pampatel bridge, along the Jalingo-Wukari road, which is located about 12 kilometres away from Namnai bridge; Pamanga bridge and Mayo Kam bridge, along the Jalingo-Bali road. Erosion has destroyed a section of the two bridges.
Commercial activities have been paralysed at the Zango-Gwallaga Mayaki community at the outskirts of Bauchi metropolis following the collapse of the bridge during a heavy downpour last month.
Findings indicate that no life was lost during the incident, but the aftermath has continued to unleash lots of difficulties, with reports of some of the affected residents selling their houses to relocate to another place within the metropolis.
A resident, Muhammad Idris said that the collapsed bridge has weakened small and medium enterprises and plunged residents into untold hardship, noting that gully erosion is adding to the bad situation.
Idris added: ‘The most disturbing thing now is that you cannot move any heavy thing or large commodities from or out of Gwallaga Mayaki due to the bridge collapse. Commercial activities have been put on a standstill. Commercial tricycles and motorcycles have stopped patronising the community since the collapse of the bridge, which moves in and out of the community.”
Another resident of Gwallaga Mayaki, Abubakar Sadiq, popularly known as Mai Adoran Tashi, said the collapse of the bridge had created a very difficult situation for the people.
‘Although the state government is constructing a new road in a different direction linking Gwallaga Mayaki with Zango, even before the unfortunate incident, floodwater has consumed and destroyed many houses, especially in the western part of the collapsed bridge’, he said.
Sadiq pleaded with the Bauchi State Government to urgently intervene and tackle the ravaging gully erosion that is expanding and destroying houses and farmlands so as to rescue the people of Gwallaga Mayaki.
During a media scorecard programme, Bauchi State Commissioner for Works and Transport, Prof. Titus Soul Ketkuka said that his ministry was aware of the collapsed Zango-Gwallaga Mayaki bridge and had sent engineers to assess the damage.
Source: Weekend Trust
