Katsina Times

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Katsina City News
07 Oct, 2024
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Earlier this year, road users and residents of Katsina State celebrated the commencement of the reconstruction of the 170km Marabar Kankara to Katsina road which had become dilapidated thirty years after it was constructed.

However, just when the contractor had moved to site and commenced the scraping of the road to begin its reconstruction, the project was stopped abruptly without any explanation on why it was stopped.

However, a new revelation came on Sunday as the Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Political Matters, Ibrahim Kabir Masari, disclosed that the road project was stopped by no other person than the Katsina State Governor, Malam Dikko Radda.

Masari told a gathering that "contract for the reconstruction of the road from Marabar Kankara, Kankara, Yantumaki, Dutsinma, Kurfi to Katsina was awarded but it was awarded to the wrong person".

"Therefore, the Katsina State Governor met Mr. President and asked him to revoke the contract and reaward it to another contractor that will do a better job".

However, following this revelation, Governor Radda has come under fire from travelers that ply the road, residents of the communities along the 170km road, and Civil Society Organizations.

A commercial vehicle driver, Haruna Abdu, lamented that despite the high cost of fuel, drivers have to go round through longer routes when traveling to Katsina.

"For drivers coming from Funtua or Zaria, the road through Kankara is a shortest route to Katsina, but the road construction project has been halted midway.

"Now we have to go round through Musawa or through Gidan Mutum Daya when going to Katsina.

"With the high cost of fuel, both commercial and private car owners go through a lot of trouble and spend too much money on fuel to get to Katsina", Abdu said.

For residents of villages along the Marabar Kankara-Katsina road, the stoppage of the road project has worsened insecurity in the area.

Dan-Gambo Faruku, a resident of Burdugau, narrated how kidnapping and armed banditry have worsened due to the cancellation of the road project.

"As you can see, this road has been scraped as reconstruction had commenced, but from the time the project was stopped to now, too many people have been abducted and too many villages have been raided or attacked by bandits.

"More than fifty villages have been attacked between Burdugau, Yargoje, Kuka-sheka, Danmarke and Kankara.

"Because the road has been closed, security agencies cannot come to our aid during these attacks.

"Similarly, because vehicles have stopped plying the road, the area is too quiet, this is why bandits attack us at any time of the day.

Meanwhile, Civil Society Organizations in Katsina State have also condemned the decision of Governor Dikko Radda to cancel the ongoing construction of the road for political reasons.

Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, the state Chairman of the Coalition of Northern Groups, described the stoppage of the root project as unfortunate.

"This road is too important for anyone to play politics with its construction, people of Katsina State have since the commencement of the project been rejoicing that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has awarded this contract.

"In the past, we suffered the unfulfilled promises of former President, Muhammadu Buhari, for eight good years he failed to reconstruct this very important road.

"This was the same way he kept promising that he would reconstruct and dualize the Kano-Katsina road, but for eight years he failed to complete that project.

"Now we were impressed by the way President Tinubu, just few months into his tenure, awarded contract for the reconstruction of the Marabar Kankara to Katsina road which links seven Local Government Areas of the state.

"Therefore, we were very disappointed to hear that it was our governor himself that plotted to revoke the contract, it is indeed very disappointing and shameful.

"They they are unnecessarily playing politics with the development of the people that voted them into office to protect their interest", Charanchi regretted.

Other concerned citizens expressed worry over the likelihood for more delay in re-awarding the contract for the construction of the road, considering the bureaucracy involved in awarding and releasing funds for the construction of road projects in the country.

Malam Aliyu Yantumaki from Danmusa Local Government Area was among those that expressed this concern.

"A lot of bureaucracy and delay is involved in awarding and releasing funds for this kind of project, it is 152km long, how long will it take to reward the contract?

"It might take many years, or probably the project will never see the light of the day". Yantumaki lamented.

Meanwhile, Governor Dikko Radda had at the flag of of the distribution of rice assistance from the Federal Government's Committee on Food Security, explained how he met President Tinubu to make case for various federal road projects in the state.

End