Bridge collapse: Zamfara communities cry out, seek government’s help

By ISHAQ ZAKI

The Gayari and Bardoki districts have appealed to Zamfara government to come to their aid by rehabilitating the two bridges linking them with other parts of the state.

The District Head of Gayari, Alhaji Hassan Muhammad, made the appeal on Wednesday during an interactive session with newsmen in Gayari.

Muhammad spoke on the challenges facing the area since September 2020, when the Bardoki and Gwalli Bridges collapsed during a heavy downpour.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bridges link over 100 communities in the two districts with Gummi Town and the entire state.

“We are aware that our leaders have been making efforts to ensure that these bridges are rehabilitated but we are still reminding them.

“This is the right time for the projects because we are approaching the rainy season.

“Our people were affected both socially and economically in the last rainy season as a result of the collapsed bridges.

“We are afraid of falling in to another problem in the coming rainy season,” Muhammad said.

He commended Gov. Bello Matawalle’s peace initiative, which resulted in the prevailing peace in the state.

According to him, the deployment of security personnel to the area by the state government has brought lasting peace.

The Chairman of Gayari Traders Association, Alhaji Muhammad Sani, said the collapse of the bridges caused a lot of economic losses, especially to traders and farmers.

He said the area served as produce center for the various farm produce, especially sugercane, pepper, rice and potato, among others, to neighbouring states.

“But when the bridges collapsed we could not transport our produce to other areas, leading to huge produce loss.

“We are appealing to both state and federal governments to assist our people to recover the losses,” Sani said.

Also, the Principal, Government Day Secondary School, Gayari, Abubakar Maishehe, said the collapse of the bridges affected education in the area.

“Some of our teachers, who are not indigenes of this area, could not come to work because they have to use canoe through the river to access this place.

“Even the NYSC members posted to this school to teach stopped coming due to the threat caused by the river.

“During the SSCE exams, we had to travel through Tambuwal and Kebbe Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Sokoto State to collect question papers from Gummi and Gusau,” Maishehe said.

The Councillor representing Bardoki Ward of Gummi LGA, Lawali Rabi’u, said the council was receiving complaints about the two bridges almost every day.

“Our people are in serious need of the project. We are appealing to government at all levels to come to our aid,” Rabi’u said.

In a remark, the lawmaker representing Gummi 2 in the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdulnasir Gayari, said he had presented the issue on the floor during plenary session many times.

Gayari further said that the house had made several representations to the executive arm of government for the rehabilitation of the bridges.

“Fortunately, last Monday, we met with the governor and I raised the issue where he promised that the state will soon mobilise contractors to the site,” the lawmaker said.

The Commissioner for Works, Alhaji Ibrahim Mayana, said that the governor directed him to write a memo for the rehabilitation of the two bridges.

He said he had already submitted it to him.

“As I am speaking with you, today we have directed our engineers to carry a construction firm to the sites of the collapsed bridges.

“Very soon, the state government will award the contract for the rehabilitation of the bridges,” he said.

Mayana assured the people of the area that government was committed to rehabilitating the bridges before the return of the rainy season. (NAN)