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The once-busy Mkove-Ipav-Katsina-Ala federal highway in Gboko Local Government Area has turned into a death trap, with motorists and residents issuing a passionate SOS to both the state and federal governments for urgent intervention.
Travellers plying the critical route, which connects Benue’s food basket to the Sankera axis and further links Taraba State, now spend hours navigating deep gullies, collapsed sections and muddy swamps that have virtually swallowed large portions of the road.
Commercial drivers who spoke to reporters on Thursday described the journey as “a gamble with death,” recounting how vehicles frequently get stuck for hours, while heavy trucks somersault into ditches almost on a daily basis. Women carrying farm produce to Gboko and Katsina-Ala markets are the worst hit, often forced to trek long distances with head loads after their motorcycles sink in the mud.
A transporter, Mr. Terhemen Aondona, lamented that what used to be a 45-minute trip from Gboko to Katsina-Ala now takes over three hours on a good day, and completely impossible when it rains.
With the Christmas rush already building and thousands expected to travel home through this corridor, residents fear the situation could lead to major accidents or total cutoff if nothing is done immediately.
They are appealing directly to Governor Hyacinth Alia and President Bola Tinubu to treat the road as an emergency, either by deploying rapid-response palliative teams or compelling the Federal Ministry of Works and the contractor handling the Makurdi–Katsina-Ala–Taraba road project to mobilise to site without further delay.
For now, the once proud highway remains a painful scar on the landscape, a daily torment for commuters and a stark reminder that even as Benue celebrates slashed transport fares this yuletide, the roads themselves are fighting back.
