Members of the community along Ado Bayero Road in Kano State have started contributing money to ‘sand fill’ and fix deplorable sections of the road to make it motorable in this rainy season, Economic Confidential reports.
This is coming three months after an investigation by Economic Confidential exposed how Kano state Government approved N381 million for rehabilitation of the one (1) kilometre road in 2018, which has since been abandoned.
The community forum has raised millions of naira and hired heavy trucks in fixing the road just to make it a bit passable.
When the Economic Confidential team visited the site which lacks an adequate drainage system, parts of the road are motorable after the community fixed some potholes, sinkholes, and uneven surfaces.
Alhaji Aminu Muhammad, a business owner lamented the agony of the abandoned road to their businesses.
“Sometimes ago, there was a heavy downpour which resulted to flooding that entered our shops and destroyed our goods, while so many residents were able to flush out the water that entered their house, others were entrapped in melancholy as they battled to fix how the flooding destroyed their stuffs,” Aminu added.
In a similar reaction, Mallam Umar Musa, another resident corroborated Aminu’s lament that the Government had abandoned them to their faith as they contribute money to ameliorate the situation.
“Every year, the community forum contributes a huge amount of money to maintain this. We just fixed part of the road a few weeks ago, but it is really a big burden, especially in this trying time of financial instability. We are still begging the government to come and fix this road”
A community leader, Alhaji Usman Aliyu, who has lived at Ado Bayero Road for over 15 years, had earlier said members of the community have tried through several means to get the Kano State Government to flag off the construction of the road project but all efforts have proved unsuccessful.
“For over 14 years we have been contributing money to maintain this road, and every year we spend millions of naira just to maintain the road. Sometimes we do it twice or thrice a year, depending on the amount of money we gather from these good members of the community.
“In 2019, there was an attempt to commence the construction of Ado Bayero Road, and we were told that the Government had approved and released funds because we saw heavy trucks camped at the site for about two weeks before they eventually disappeared. Ever since we have no idea what happened and we still do not know why the project has not taken off yet. But the metal square board of the project is still at the site” he added.
