CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
This is not the best of times for motorists and travellers plying the Benin expressway bypass road in Benin the capital of Edo State because of the trauma they encounter on daily basis due to the deplorable situation of the road.
The area has been christened killer zone since there were increased number of accidents, robbery activities and breakdown of vehicles. P.M.EXPRESS reports that motorists and passengers travelling along the Ore-Benin expressway must experience all manner of negative things once they got to the Benin bypass area. The agony was due to the deplorable condition of the road having been abandoned by both the state and federal government.
P.M.EXPRESS investigation revealed that some passengers usually stayed several hours and sometimes days on the road due to traffic and got exposed to armed robbery attacks. This has been the situation for some years now without any solution in sight.
One of the victims, Mr. Paul Abua who resides in Asaba, Delta State said he was yet to understand why the Federal g
Government closed its eyes and pretended that all was well in the area while people were dying everyday in that particular area.
An embittered Abua revealed that he stopped using his vehicle after some armed robbers attacked and almost killed him when they tracked him at that spot and he lost all the valuables he had inside his vehicle. He said he had not recovered from the loss and shock, and so he stopped travelling with his vehicle.
Another victim, Mrs. Stella Chimaobi said travellers have been exposed to so many risks along that road because of the neglect by government and wondered if it was a conspiracy between the government and criminals. She said she had boarded a commercial bus with other passengers and when they got to the Benin bypass, the driver had to slow down and armed men who came out from the bush nearby attacked and robbed them.
Another victim simply known as Victor said that apart from the activities of the men of the underworld, that the commercial vehicles owners have increased the transport fare in order to raise money to repair their vehicles caused by the bad road and passengers were forced to be in the traffic for hours and in some occasions even the following day.
Some of the transport companies who spoke to our correspondent said that the commercial vehicles owners should not be blamed for the increase in the transport fare because the government has not done anything on the road for several years and the bad roads were affecting their businesses as their vehicles were destroyed almost on daily basis.
P.M.EXPRESS tried to find out why the road was abandoned despite the deaths it has caused which the government was aware. Those who spoke on the matter said the road has been turned into a political matter as any political party who wanted votes from people in the area used it as bait to get their support. But after the campaign and election, it will be abandoned and has remained so.
Another factor it was gathered was that the Edo State government viewed the road as a federal project and was not willing to repair it as they claimed that it was of no economic benefit to the state. It was also gathered that the road was abandoned by the government after several contracts have been awarded and those contractors abandoned it. And since then, it has remained like that.
It was not certain if the Federal Ministry of Works will do anything on the road this fiscal year as the year was already coming to an end. However, people have been expressing their fears over what will happen during the Christmas period when a greater number of people will likely travel through the road that connected about ten other states.