ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi –
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has visited the Malka village, where the Bauchi-Ningi-Kano road collapsed leading to the death of three people after there vehicle was washed away.
NATIONAL ACCORD had reported that the ever-busy road which leads to Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi state, Jigawa and Kano states, was cut-off at Malka village, about 90 kilometers away from the state capital following a downpour which led to flooding in the area from Thursday night to early hours of Friday morning.
Four other passengers who were also in the car have been rescued alive while over 250 goats were said to have been killed in the incident.
Following the incident, many vehicles and hundreds of passengers were stranded as there is no entry into Ningi LGA to Jigawa state to Kano state from Bauchi and vice versa for several hours.
Speaking in an interview with journalists shortly after inspecting the collapsed road, Governor Bala Mohammed, who described the level of damage caused as “monumental,” confirmed that three people lost their lives.
The governor who was accompanied by the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, in whose constituency the incident happened, and many top government officials, lamented that the incident has cut-off the state from other north-western states.
He called on the federal government to immediately create a permanent solution is provided.
He said: “The damage is so monumental, it washed away the road in two portions because of the wash-out and the low flood drain. Three people were washed away in th the incident and they died.
“We brought Triacta and they’ve looked at it and we given them directive to make sure they provide palliation.
“We are unanimous with the representative of the Federal Ministry of Works and the Zonal representative of FERMA that we need provide palliation because it appears that we are cut-off from the north-western part of the country through Kano and Sokoto and Katsina.
“Because this is a major corridor, we cannot afford that and we have taken it as a state to bear the cost of the palliation.
“We crave the indulgence of the federal government to make sure that a permanent solution is provided by making sure that the procurement is done as an emergency and given to a company that has capacity and integrity.”
Mohammed also lamented that incidences of flooding had happened along Bauchi-Jos highway the same day leaving travellers stranded for about five hours.
“There is another road along Ningi-Burra road which was cut-off and we asked some contractors to go and fox the road as part of their corporate social responsibility but if they can’t do it, we will pay them their money.
“The same thing with Jos corridor, where commuters have had to wait for about five hours and today we are providing palliation and we are going to see what is happening there,” he said.
Adding that: “Unfortunately, the Gombe corridor is also having the same problem around Lariski where there is a flood drain and of course FERMA is there but we want to assure Nigerians that we will work with the federal government to make sure we provide permanent solution to this incessant flooding and wash even though all those road are under the federal government but certainly, we will work with them.”