All roads leading to Minna, the Niger State capital are in a state of disrepair.
The roads are also causing a lot of problems for free-flow of businesses and safety of road users.
The Suleja, Kontagora, Shiroro and Bida Axis of the state capital are all deteriorating. Motorists struggle every day to ply the dilapidated roads.
Minna to Suleja road was awarded for dualisation in 2010. The road has not been completed until now. The road was worked on from Suleja side up to Farin Doki about 51 kilometres to Minna. However, since after work was carried out on the road, it remains hellish driving to and from Minna on that part of the road.
Similarly, in the Kontagora axis of the road leading to Minna; contract was awarded at the twilight of former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration, yet no work is going on and motorists pass through hell traveling on the road that has recorded the highest number of Banditry.
At the Shiroro/Munya axis, the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002 conceptualised a shortcut from Minna to Kaduna through Sarikin Pawa. But after his administration, the road has been abandoned and criminals have taken over.
In recent years the road also has become a hiding place for bandits. Several motorists and road users have been abducted around the boundary with Kaduna State.
The most talked about however is the Minna-Bida Road. The journey on the 85 kilometre road that previously took only 45 minutes, now takes over three hours. Furthermore, it is the only road linking to the southwest which businesses ply.
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Recently, the road was cut off forcing the state government to close it up for repair, with promises that it will be given priority.
A motorist, Baba Mohammed said Bida-Minna road is "pathetic, very sad indeed. Anytime you want to travel on the road, you should prepare to go to the mechanics immediately you reach your destination," he complained.
A commercial driver, Yekini Rasheed said, "When we are coming back from Lagos, we are always afraid immediately we reach Bida-Minna Road. You spend hours. People have died in multiple accidents on the road."
A resident of Minna, Abdullahi Abubakar told me that most of the roads are disasters waiting to happen. "Look at Minna-Tegina-Kontagora Road, Minna to Bida Road, it is sad that in the same Minna, notable leaders were produced," he stressed.
The new governor, Hon Mohammed Umar Bago, has promised urban renewal and infrastructural development. However, those interviewed posit that he must act fast if his vision to transform Niger State is to be achieved.
But a resident of Minna, Paul Victor said there is no way that the governor can attract investment and other development to the state if the roads to Minna are in a sorry state.
Another resident , Musa Mohammed lamented, "Just this weekend, a trailer trying to dodge potholes around Paiko, killed some passengers in commercial vehicles."
