From the motor park where commuters board vehicles to Awo in Ankpa local government area of Kogi state, you are already familiar with the difficulty awaiting you on the tortous road to the community.Passengers on this route normally do not have regard for time, this is because, the road has made it impossible for travellers to meet up with time. In most cases, journeys are cancelled because this treacherous road.The chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the town, Alhaji Musa Sule said because of the deplorable condition of the road and the hardship commuters go through, the union contributed money for its rehabilitation in 2010.From the main road one is confronted by a wild mangrove thick forest depicting a path of the ancient lives and abandoned settlement. The indigenes have to travel nine kilometres to see what is a tarred road, one opportunity which would cost N300 to get out or go in from the tarred road. Most passengers complain of the hardship experienced everyday on this road.Our correspondent and others traveling with him nearly lost his live and his car on this nasty road.A sign post at Awo Ojuwo shows that the road belongs to the Federal Ministry of Works. But it is not better than a footpath, untarred, unmotorable, shaded by over-grown trees and creepers that had remained unpruned for years. A community leader in the city of Awo told LEADERSHIP Sunday that 30 years ago he had walked to Okakele, a neighbouring community to have a feel of a tarred road, expecting to have the tarred road in his community soon, but till date, Awo is still far away from modern roads.Further down the road from Ojuwo, a commuter, Engr Sunday Odoguje, who was forced to abandon his car at Okakele lamented the neglect of the entire community by the state and federal governments.The contract for this road we were told, was never awarded to any company. Can you imagine, are we not part of this country again' What sin have we committed, he asked.As one proceeds further through this death trap, called federal road, one encounters more faces of neglect, that have the capacity of frustrating one to death.Even motorcyclists and pedestrians do not have the spirit to cross some swampy portions of the roads, and tragically, no alternative route.The community has the capacity of feeding the entire state with agricultural produce, like yam, maize, rice, and cocoa,but these are wasted due to lack of storage facilities and lack of motorable road to move them out to the market.People cannot come in to buy, and we cannot take them out to sell, chairman of the community association, Robert Agagwu told LEADERSHIP Sunday.At a wide clearing along the road, the winding paths turn into tributaries of water from the bush paths and slopping to negotiate where to pass could be the end of the journey, and continuing may lead one into a ditch. This is the nature of the road in Awo community.The government has abandoned this road, for no just cause, or is it political gimmicks, we do not know, Isah Omale said. Such is also the concern of youths of the community, which is the cradle of christain evangelism. It was there most prominent sons of the local government in higher places began their journey to stardom.Many community efforts at rehabilitating the road is like a drop of water in the desert., the story remains the same; rocks, hills and mud.As our correspondent ventured into the heart of the community, a kilometre outside the city, community effort attracted his attention. The community survives on self-help, but there is limit to what they can do. The people are predominantly farmers and their agricultural produce are wasted for lack of means to move them out. The roads are rocky; their frayed nerves cannot cope with the tedious work required on this road.
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