Death trap: Flooding Cut Off Akwanga, Lafia Bridges In Nasarawa.

From Abel Leonard, Lafia

This is coming barely 48 hours after same heavy rain that causes flooding washed away half of the bridge on the express way between Nasarawa state polytechnic,  Bukan Sidi  and Lafia, the state capital.

The collapsed bridge near Jinjin Hotel in the heart of Akwanga town is also used by motorists coming from Kaduna, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe and others, who are heading to Abuja.

Our correspondent who visited the scene, noticed that traffic had been diverted for heavy duty vehicles through some tiny street roads on A.A Koto and the one on Chun Mada lane, via Wamba bye-pass, while the remaining small portion is utilised by small vehicles and bikes.

All efforts to get across to the executive chairman of Akwanga local government area, Alhaji Safiyanu Isa, failed because his phone was switched off.

When Daily Sun contacted  the district head of Akwanga metropolis, Sir Anthony Yamusa, who described the collapsed bridge as a death  trap called on the Nasarawa State Government and the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to urgently reconstruct the bridge.

”It is unfortunate and painful that the bridge that connected the southern and northern parts of the country was partly washed away. This will not only affect peoples lives, but it will also affect economic and commercial activities”.

“It is in view of this that I want to appeal to the governor of Nasarawa State to collaborate with the Federal Government in order to reconstruct this bridge that has been washed away, immediately”

Yamusa, called on FERMA to as a matter of urgency and necessity do something like a temporary remedy that can ease the movement of people and give access to movement of goods while reconstructing the collapsed bridge.

He called on Gov Abdullahi Sule, who he described as a listening and action governor, to intervene and called on the attention of the Federal government to rescue the people Akwanga and other Nigerians, using the road