Business and commercial activities were practically ground to a halt today in the Abuja-Keffi boundary between the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Nasarawa State due to a heavy gridlock.
As a result of the gridlock occasioned by road repair works being undertaken by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), hundreds of thousands of private and public workers have been stranded.
According to reports, the lane from Keffi leading to Abuja has been cut off by FERMA without any notice to road users.
The gridlock, which started to build up at the site as early as 5 am reached a critical point at the time of this report, having reached Ado village, a distance of 5 kilometres.
However, the road was cut off at a point known as Sharp Corner in Mararaba, in a bid to build a new bridge for control of perennial erosion on the road.
It was gathered that the road was cut off by two heavy equipment in the night without the provision of an alternative bypass for passage.
It was also gathered that at the construction site, heavily armed security operatives were seen giving security back up to the workers to avoid possible attack on them by angry road users.
Angry commercial and private vehicle owners trapped in the gridlock were seen abandoning their vehicles due to the state of hopelessness.
It was also gathered that Mararaba to Nyaya which used to attract N100 per passenger now cost N500 while Mararaba to AYA bridge goes for N700 per person instead of the usual N150.
One of the officials of FERMA, Engineer Tony Emeka, appealed to the angry road users to bear with the government, adding that the agency was undertaking the work and speeding it up in the general interest of the people.
However, civil servants and private workers who could not pay exorbitant motorcycle fares through their noses were seen returning home after making phone contacts with their offices, while scores opted to trek to work.
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