SCC Begins Temporary Work On Dilapidated Nguroje -Gembu Road

• #FixGembuRoad Campaigners  Commend Barr Umar Bangari, Stakeholders For Intervention

• Motorists Lament Years Of Neglect, Demand Lasting Solution

 

 

 

The long-suffering Nguroje–Gembu Road, notorious for breaking vehicles and spirits, is now receiving temporary remedial work as a construction firm SCC working on Bali-Serti-Gembu road has offered to help make the road motorable.

 

The intervention follows weeks of agitation under the #FixGembuRoad Campaign, which mobilized voices across Taraba State and beyond.

 

The campaigners on  expressed appreciation to Umar Bangari, Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Mohammed J. Umar, and other stakeholders who pressed for federal approval that enabled SCC to resume work on the worst stretch between Gurgu and Sabongari.

 

For weeks, the road has been a death trap. What should be a four-hour journey from Jalingo to Gembu now drags into one or two days of misery. Motorists narrate stories of being stranded for weeks, of cars breaking down after endless potholes, of trucks tipping over sharp bends, and of patients dying before reaching hospitals.

The road is the lifeline of the Mambilla Plateau, linking farmers to markets, children to schools, and tourists to one of Nigeria's most beautiful landscapes. Yet it has collapsed into mud, gullies, and craters.

 

"Every bump is a reminder of neglect, every accident screams of lives lost to government silence," one campaigner lamented.

 

Despite a ₦95 billion federal contract for its rehabilitation, awarded for completion within 24 months, the road remains uncompleted after 38 months, far past deadline.

 

Recent weeks saw desperate interventions. Rt. Hon. Abel Peter Diah mobilized businessman Alhaji Iya Maigari, who owns heavy-duty machines in Gembu, to attempt clearance of blocked sections. Torrential rains washed away much of that effort. Secretary to the State Government Barr. GT Kataps also engaged a firm to provide emergency palliative work. Locals meanwhile turned the suffering into survival business, charging stranded motorists between ₦5,000 and ₦10,000 to push smaller vehicles out of the mud.

 

When SCC machines were finally sighted on the road over the weekend, motorists expressed relief though skepticism lingered. "We have been hearing promises. What we want is a lasting solution, not another abandoned effort," a truck driver said at Sabongari.

 

Chairman of Sardauna Local Government, Mohammed Umar, confirmed to Taraba Truth and Facts that official approval had been secured by Barr. Umar Bangari for the federal intervention. "SCC is back on site for remedial work. This is only the beginning, but it gives us hope that the full rehabilitation will follow," he said.

 

For residents of the Plateau, the temporary works may ease the nightmare, but the cry remains for the Federal Ministry of Works, Senator Haruna Manu, and Hon. David Abel Fouh to deliver the complete project as promised.

 

As one exhausted traveler put it: "This is not just about a road. It is about life, dignity, and the future of the Mambilla Plateau."