Jabbi Lamba – Belel Road links Girei, Fufore and Maiha local government areas in Adamawa State as well as the route to Cameroun border. It was first constructed 39 years ago by the administration of former President Shehu Shagari.
Since then, no major rehabilitation has been done on the road. Times without numbers, recent administrations had released funds for the reconstruction of the road but contractors only worked for some few kilometres and abandoned it.
Surprisingly, the present administration had in June last year, approved the reconstruction of the road. But one and half years later, there is no sign the project will take off. Jabbi Lamba -Belel Road links Jibiro to Malabu, the village the wife of Mr. President, Hajiya Aishatu Buhari and the incumbent senator representing Adamawa central, Hajiya Aishatu Dahiru Ahmad Binani, hailed from. The road also connects Farang, Konkol to Boloko, the home of the renowned mathematics professor, the third Vice Chancellor of ABU, former Director, CBN and former Minister of Defence and Internal Affairs as well as two-term senator, Professor Iya Abubakar.
The road joined my village, Konkol, centre of commerce in Maiha LGA with Belel, homestead of Brigadier-General Muhammad Mana (retired), a former military administrator of Plateau State and two-time representative of the Adamawa North senatorial district. Belel is also a home to Senator Muhammad Umar Jibrilla Bindow, a one-time senator and governor.
From Belel, the road links Sorau and Mayo Nguli, headquarters of Maiha Local Government area.
Despite having these prominent personalities in the affected areas, Jabbi Lamba-Belel road is in a horrendous condition.
On this road, seven out of the eight major bridges have broken which necessitated travellers to use seven canoes and seven different cars to reach their destinations during rainy season. In this process, many people got drowned. Apart from risking lives, the less than 100-kilometer journey consumes three to five hours instead of an hour.
We, therefore, call for urgent intervention in order to ameliorate the sufferings of the people residing along Jabbi Lamba to Belel Sorau road.
Bilyaminu Gambo Kong-kol, Mass Communication Department, Bayero University, Kano
