FEATURE: Abuja Community Cries For Help As Bridge Linking About 5000 Households Nears Collapse

When Humphrey Ogbonnaya acquired the land along Panaf Drive, Dutse Alhaji area of Abuja in 2012, he had looked forward to building a house where he could live peacefully with his family.

By the time he built his house, there was only one challenge to the joy he had envisaged.

He could look through the window of his one-storey house and see the Kubwa Expressway which is less than 200 metres distance, but there’s no straight road to the express — He has to drive through adjourning streets, meandering through unmotorable paths for hours before finally linking the express.

Driving home or driving out became the proverbial cross he has to bear daily with the consequent frustration and stress. The shortest route to the express needed a small bridge to allow driving across the nearby canal.

He approached some road contractors and enquired about the cost of creating a bridge that would reduce at least 60 kilometres of the exhausting ride home. Despite communicating this plan to other property owners in the area, no one was willing to support it financially.

Ogbonnaya decided to do it all alone to save himself and his family the daily torment they were going through just to get to work and back.

Speaking to THE WHISTLER, he said, “So, they charged me N2.5 million, and I alone carried the burden of the bridge, and I did not disturb any of the landlords anymore. I had stone on my head, and sand on my body with other labourers.

“By 2013, I was able to put up the bridge and the slab. I also went for caterpillars to grade the road so people can pass and I was charged N500,000 which I also paid.”

The bridge was constructed and everyone had a new lease on life. But as more people began to live in the area and it grew in population, the bridge began to suffer from overuse.

The bridge that was built to take a few vehicles now finds itself accommodating more vehicles including trailers as households in the area multiply to about 5000, all spreading across Dawaki, Dutse and Kubwa.

Since 2020, the bridge has been showing signs it may soon collapse. The rising level of rainfall and constant erosion have further weakened the structure and now motorists must pray it doesn’t collapse each time they drive on it.

Landlords in the area usually contribute money to patch the road ruined by erosion and rehabilitate the bridge. But after several years of taxing themselves, the landlords are no longer prepared to use their own resources. They expect the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCTA) to do its job.

Authorities Feign Ignorance

“The road is supposed to be a responsibility of the government, and that of our Area Council to fix for us, but the community has been trying to fix the place but the capacity of the people here cannot fix that bridge,” a resident told THE WHISTLER.

The community had written to the Bwari Area Council and the FCDA for immediate intervention in 2020, but received no response despite repeated follow-ups.

“When we go to the FCDA they will say there is no money to support us. We went to the area council with pictures and videos of the bridge, they say our letter has been acknowledged, but there was no response. Every year the water level gets higher than the bridge which takes hundreds of cars including trucks.

“Both the FCDA and Area Council staff use this road to come to take revenues. Now, I am crying to the same Area Council and the government to come and fix this bridge because it is linked to over 5000 houses originally allocated by the FG,” Ogbonnaya lamented.

The situation has now become a nightmare for residents who are forced to use only a single lane to avoid falling into the ditch caused by erosion due to heavy rains.

Ikenna Ebere, a resident waiting on the side of the road for vehicles in the opposite direction to drive through the bridge told THE WHISTLER he has been a tenant in the neighbourhood for three years and has watched the road wane over time.

“This erosion site is dangerous to us the motorist using this road. I have stayed here for over three years now, and I observed that most of the work or maintenance is done on this bridge is by the residents, which this government has entirely neglected,” he said.

When THE WHISTLER visited the Bwari Area Council, which is now run by a new administration, the Logistics department in charge of road construction, headed by one Amos, said the council had not received any complaints from the community.

The reporter informed the office about the letter submitted to the council two years ago, but Amos said, “I am not sure they followed up appropriately because if they had reported to the Council, we should have been there to assess the extent of the damages”.

Amos had asked that an acknowledgement letter be forwarded to the department, to enable him to follow up on their file and thereafter do the needful.

Residents Resort To Self-Help

In 2014, the residents contributed millions when the bridge first collapsed. Ogbonnaya said the money could only repair a little of the damage while they made efforts to fix the road connecting the bridge.

Aside from the authorities they had written to, the community also reached out to Sarplast in 2020, to seek independent assistance in installing a drainage system to curtail the erosion, but that came at an exuberant cost.

Sarplast West Africa is a Nigerian engineering and contracting company based in Abuja that offers services including underground piping, drainage installation, water projects and other technical supports.

“We met Sarplast because we saw that they are laying pipes around Dutse. We enquired if our area was a part of the development and they said no. So, we asked for the construction of a pipe but Sarplast said our area was not a part of their contract.

“They said unless we are able to pay N10m for a single drainage system pipe and other small things. We told them we cannot afford it, and they eventually didn’t respond to us again,” Ogbonnaya added.

The community had also reached out to S & M, a nearby construction company located along the Kubwa expressway to fix the 40-kilometre road connecting the road linking the bridge. Still, the management said it will cost a minimum of N15 million. Ogbonnaya could only raise N5 million.

After several failed efforts, the community resorted to cleaning the bridge and fixing it at intervals when it gets bad. Residents say they are tired of the endless circuit. Money has become a huge barrier and they can no longer afford to piece funds together to fix the bridge.

Labaka Amadi, a resident whose apartment is in close proximity to the bridge told THE WHISTLER, “It has been like this for the past month and it was erosion that divided it like it. If you check the other side of the bridge, it has almost divided. We even contributed some time ago for blocks to arrange and amend a part of it, but now the erosion has collapsed again. So, we are begging the government so that the road will not break finally.”

Residents Cry For Change

A cement vendor, Ruth whose outlet is located a few steps from the frail bridge called on the government to take advantage of the coming dry season to fix the bridge to avoid the loss of lives. The reporter gathered that vehicles had fallen into the ditch in the past, leaving the drivers severely injured.

“In the morning once it is about 7 am the place will be choked because the bridge can only now take one vehicle at a time. We want the government to help us to quickly work on the bridge before people start falling into the ditch. We do not know when the remaining part will collapse,” Ruth added.

Ogbonnaya and many other residents who spoke to this newspaper pleaded for immediate intervention from the government, asking that the bridge should not be allowed to collapse.