The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) deserves commendation for the swift manner it has intervened to rehabilitate and reconstruct the once dilapidated road linking Gbagalape community to the Nyanya/Keffi express way in the FCT.
Before now, that road was so bad that it was referred to as the gully of death due to a huge gully that was threatening to split the road into halves.
But thanks to the ongoing construction works by the FCTA, residents of the Gbagalape, who hitherto went through anguish to connect to the other side of the gully, can now heave a sigh of relief as the only road connecting the community to the FCT mainland is nearing completion.
Any visitor to Gbagalape now will observe that the road is so smooth that the residents are actually beckoning on government to install speed breakers and other safety devices to tame the recklessness of Okada and other vehicles that have turned the road to a race track; a stark contrast to the past where the point of the gully would usually signal the end of the journey to Gbagalape when the situation was so bad.
Thanks to efforts of the FCTA, the road has now been levelled and asphalted with the gully filled up, to the delight of residents who now refer to the erstwhile death trap as “the slope of life.”
The repair of this road has rekindled the economic and social lives of the community which is now witnessing a burst of estate development and commercial life.
Previously, a journey that should not last more than five-minute drive to and from Nyanya, most of the time, turned into hours. Commercial bike riders also cashed in on this to charge many times the standard rate.
The agonies of Gbagalape residents have now been replaced by swansongs and their leaders have been very effusive in their praise of the FCT Administration.
The Chairman, Gbagalape Community Development Association, Wale Ajibode, has described the work as super miracle.
Other residents who doubted that the road would be successfully completed, considering the extent of damage done by years of erosion and neglect, have also had to swallow the humble pie.
The current FCTA headed by Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, by this feat, has demonstrated that it is an administration that listens to the complaints of residents and is equally committed to providing solutions because the minister had moved swiftly to award the contract when the travails of this community came to the limelight.
Danladi Akilu,
Durumi II, Gudu District,
Abuja
