Makurdi — A system of direct labour by men of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has cleared potholes stretching about 30 kms along the hitherto pothole-ridden Makurdi-Gboko road in Benue state.

Direct labour along the over 70 kms federal road began in January after the federal government introduced a system called "Direct Labour Week", during which men of the agency take the last week of every month to embark on patching of potholes. This, according to agency officials, is also a week of publicity for FERMA.

The road was recently awarded for rehabilitation by Setraco whose job only terminated at the outskirt of Wannune in Tarka local government area. The company carried out complete rehabilitation, opening up and over-laying the failed potions. But the contract whose specification was rehabilitation, was abandoned a little after Wannune as the company parked its construction equipment and left, leaving only a few locally hired labourers with mini tools to carry out patching to Yandev in Gboko.

Setraco completed its work by mid 2007, but by the end of the year, the road started to open up again, a development which attracted the direct labour programme by men of FERMA, between the months of January and February.

A report card for the months of January and February presented by the FERMA's Chief Maintenance Engineer in Makurdi, Engr. Amos Godson Chimezie said work commenced actually on February 13, 2008 on the road as combined Direct Labour Week for the two months. The report which was made available to Property & Environment said work commenced on the notification of the release of the sum of N2 million for operation. The report however failed to state when the on going work will be complete.

Engr Godson said further that the monthly programme "consist of production of asphalt with the Asphalt Mini Plant for the patching of 600 Sq. m of cut and cleaned potholes".

The report confirmed Property & Environment's observation that some sections of the road were not resurfaced, and have therefore "deteriorated to such an extent that there are clusters and isolated potholes inundating a greater stretches of these sections of the road".

Observation showed that the direct labour programme has a scope of work that includes cutting and shaping of potholes, provision of stone base materials where necessary, priming of the surface for patching and the actual patching of the potholes with asphalt produced using the mini plant.

Motorists spoken to say the programme has done even more than what Setraco did in its so called rehabilitation work. They commended FERMA for being committed to ensuring that potholes no longer exist on the hitherto deplorable road.

"We are now convinced that the federal government is committed to ending potholes on this road. What Setraco did was a shoddy job and I think they should be made to pay for it", said one Dennis Abeda.

Mr. Abeda, a commercial driver who plies between Makurdi and Katsina-Ala along this road said for sometimes, the road has remained a nightmare to motorists as the cluster of potholes left by Setraco has been a major cause of fatal accidents.

The rpogramme last week, attracted a team from FERMA headquarters in Abuja on a monitoring that gave pass mark to the Chief Maintenance Engineer in Makurdi, Engr. Amos Godson.

Led by the Executive Director in charge of East Operations, Engr. Don Oti who traveled through Lokoja in Kogi state to be received at Otupka junction linking Kogi, Benue and Enugu states, the team also inspected on going work along the busy Makurdi-Aliede-Otupko-Obolo-Afor road.

Engr. Don Oti who answered reporters' question at the end of the monitoring commended FERMA in Makurdi for a perfect job along the Makurdi-Gboko road. He said the monitoring will cover all the six North-Central states including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Executive Director said the essence of the Direct Labour Week is to ensure that fairly good roads do not a single pothole, which he attributed to some major accidents.

"We are here to monitor the Direct Labour Week in North-Central zone. The purpose of this programme is to ensure that no pothole exist at all on fairly good roads. We realized that some accidents occur because of some isolated potholes that still exist on fairly good roads.

"You will find out that some roads are in good condition but they still have some isolated potholes scattered here and there. So when a driver is speeding along such a road, suddenly he sees the potholes, and in the course of trying to dodge, he swerves into the bush. This causes also tyre burst. A vehicle may be coming on the right hand side, but because there is a pothole, the driver decides to swing off his side to another lane. This causes head on collision.

"So we decided that will devote one week in two months to patching of these isolated potholes. We give money to our chief maintenance engineers in various states to patch the potholes, and we at the headquarters go round to monitor and make sure they are doing the work according to specification", added Engr. Don Oti.

He said the programme will see a Nigeria where fairly good roads will no longer have potholes. "We want to make sure that potholes no longer exist on our highways".

He traced the cause of potholes on such roads to what he called "weak pavements". According to him, "because the pavements are very weak, even if you patch a road now, within two weeks and three weeks, you may see other potholes developing because the pavements are very weak. We need to strengthen the pavements so that the development of these potholes will drastically reduce. We are crying out to the federal government for funds to be able to do this".

Commenting on the hitherto dilapidated Makurdi-Lafia road which FERMA recently completed, the Executive Director said, "I am happy about it. But we don't have money. To be able to do that job, we must have gotten money from other areas to make sure we complete that road because it has been a major accident road. I am very happy it was done and very well".

This road which is the major link between most parts of the North and South-East has been in the worst state of disrepair until recently when FERMA rose and cleared it of all failed portions.

Property & Environment had reported that as part of finishing, the agency has begun the provision of road markings which began last month. This was observed between Daudu and Inbgian, covering over 20 kilometers of the road from Makurdi, a development which has also beautified the hitherto deplorable road.

Men of the agency had covered all portions that were affected during the scarification and sealing, by the on going provision of road marks.

Motorists spoken to commended FERMA for the commitment saying the development has ended the nightmare they faced in the previous years. One James Yagba, a commercial driver who plies between Makurdi and Abuja had said simply that "FERMA has ended our nightmare. We are happy."