By Abdulrahman Balarabe Isah
Residents of Joda Village in Gabasawa Local Government Area of Kano State have cried out over the deplorable condition of their road network for several years.
Despite promises by politicians to fix the road, its awful condition has continued to ruin their agricultural potential, making access to health services difficult and forcing pupils to drop out of school midway.
It’s just an 8-kilometer road linking Zugaci and Joda communities. But the road has been in a comatose condition for over eight years, despite several promises made by politicians during electioneering.
The residents complained that those who contested the state and national assemblies’ elections were used to making the village their companion during elections and retracted thereafter.
Speaking with Grassroots Parrot, a mother, Aina’u Joda narrated how the dangerous road had complicated a lot of pregnancy cases before reaching the hospital, a few kilometers away.
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“Our hospital is small and does not support child delivery services, which is why women in this village have to travel all the way to Zakirai Primary Health Care Centre to access such services.
“Because of the nature of the road, some die before getting to the hospital, while others give birth on the road.” She said.
The threat associated with the dilapidated road gets worse during the rainy season, making it extremely difficult to go in or out of Joda Village regardless of the means of transportation.
Having to travel to a neighboring Zugaci village to attend senior secondary school, most of the youths in the village are dropping out of secondary school.
This is because they are usually left with no choice but to abandon all academic activities during the rainy season.
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Abuzarrin Abdulmumin, one of the villagers, who dropped out school narrated his experience.
“We have been forced to abandon school during the rainy season as a result of the bad road. Myself and my siblings had to drop out of school after completing junior secondary school.
“The distance between the village and the nearest secondary school is about eight kilometers, and because of the bad road, most of us can’t afford to continue.”
With arable land at their disposal, dropouts usually turn to either farmers or miners as an alternative to earning a living, but the poor road also makes it difficult for such economic activities to thrive.
Kawu Gambo, another resident spoke about the collosal loses of the villagers due to the bad road.
“All economic activities in this village are forced to a standstill during the rainy season because of the bad road.
“Because of this problem, we have been recording losses year in and year out in our agricultural production. The authorities are now threatening to arrest us over our failure to pay off the agricultural support loans we collected.
“If a bag of rice costs N50,000, that price automatically comes down in this village during rainy seasons because of the unfavorable cost of transporting farm produce outside the village. You will end up getting less than N30,000.”
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The sand mining site at the bank of the Joda River, which in its glory days engaged thousands of artisans, has been decimated to nothing.
The sand miners said that before now, over 100 trucks used to load construction sand daily in the village, but now it’s less than five tippers loading daily due to the poor condition of the road.
Magaji Aliyu, is one of the local miners, who spoke with Grassroots Parrot.
“Before, about 100 to 150 tippers of sand came in and out of this village, but today the business is limited to not more than 5 tippers a day, and all the workers are still in the village, rendered jobless with nothing to fall back on.
“I alone sell about 50 tippers daily, but look at me now; till this very time, I haven’t sold even one. Sand mining has been the backbone of our economy for years, and it affects every source of our livelihoods.” He said.
A youth leader in the community, Baffa Abdulwahab Joda, decried the neglect being suffered by the villagers despite its huge potential in agriculture and its contribution to the internally generated revenue through sand mining.
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“We have been blessed with abundant natural resources in this village. Being located at the bank of the river Joda, we sell an average of 10 million naira of sand daily, and the state and local governments get revenue from these activities.
“We also engage in both rainy season and irrigation farming. I can boast that in the whole of Kano North, no town produces the kind of revenue that comes out of Joda.” He said.
In what appears to be a succor to the villagers, a member representing Gabasawa constituency in the State House of Assembly, Hon. Zakariyya Abdullahi Nuhu, says a bill was recently passed for the rehabilitation of the road.
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“By God’s grace, the governor had already given approval for the rehabilitation of one of the road projects I sponsored a bill on, and we are hoping that the governor will also give approval for the complete rehabilitation of the Zugaci Joda Road.” He said.
While the waiting continues, residents of the embattled Joda community are appealing to their federal and state lawmakers to expedite action in fulfilling their campaign promise by fixing the road.