GARAM RIVER A DEAD TRAP

Garam District in Kanke Local Government of Plateau state has been cut off from the rest of the state for over a month due to the incessant rainfall witnessed recently. The farming community a l w a y s f o u n d themselves traps whenever the river that passed across the across the locality is over flooded.

Speaking to the Newdawn reporter, a community mobiliser Mr. Godwin Biliwer said, Garam people are increasingly becoming helpless whenever raining seasons sets in, he noted that usually the months of August, September and part of October is a period of great agony and distress because they are completely cut off from the rest of the world; a time when some farmers could not gain accessed to their farms or carry their farm produce to markets, a time when even health personnel coming for immunization or other engagements could not gained accessed to the community.

Mr. Godwin said “the farming communities on several occasions could not carry sick ones and most especially pregnant women across the rivers, a situation that has cause serious health implication for the sick ones and expectant mothers”. He said, recently personnel of the Nigeria Army nearly lost their lives as they attempted to cross the rivers; if not for the timely intervention of the locals, it would have been a great tragedy, and this is just one case among many. He said, the river which is about 30 meters width and several kilometers long, has remained the community's night mares; i t h a s consumes loves ones, properties destroyed and farm produce w o r t h millions of n a i r a perished, it continued to wreaked havoc on the farming community unabated. Mr. Godwin said, Garam people have tried all they could in finding a means of addressing the problems, but it always ends in futility because the rivers always overwhelm their efforts. He noted that Nde Augustine Gopep raises some funds and mobilizes the Garam Community un-which Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA) funding and intervention was sought for, this efforts led to the grading of the road from the Garam hills to the river, he said “Dr. Jurbe, G. Yilji, Nde Semshak Semlek, Brig Gen Aaron Danpome (Rtd) and many others sons and daughters have contributed enormously to make sure that something is done on the river and also to make the 23 Kilometers road to Sharam and about 17 kilometers to Baban Lamba motorable. He said, “We are appealing to the rescue administration of Governor Simon Bako Lalong to kindly look at the plea of the Garam district and come to their aids by constructing a bridge across the rivers, to enable us carry our loved ones and pregnant women whenever they are sick to the hospital and also transport our abundance farm produce”. “We are equally seeking and appealing to well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aids of Garam people” he added. He said “Garam people are well-known for their rich cultural heritage with a great tourism potential and above all they are the food basket of the state; their rich fertile land produce rice, yam and millet with other assorted fruits in great quantity. We are equally calling on the governmentto revisit the abandon Sharam, Lanshi, Garam, Baban Lamba road; its construction would help in great measures to ameliorate the hardship face by numerous farming communities across the route. He said, the road if constructed would serve as a shortest link for motorist travelling from the North Eastern states of Gombe, Yobe, Adamawa, and Bauchi to the Federal Capital Abuja and the southern part of the country.