Communities utilizing the Balbaya Road in Bayo Local Government Area of Borno State have called on the State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum to rescue the area from economic strangulation by completing the road project.

An indigene of Bayo LGA, Abdulmumuni Umar Aliyu, who made this call on behalf of the communities in a chat with Kristina Reports, pleaded with the Governor to act fast to restore hope to the suffering communities there.

He disclosed that the contract for the construction of the road, which connects Borno State with Yobe State through Gulani Local Government Area, was awarded by the administration of a former Governor of the State, Ali Modu Sherriff, but was yet to be completed till date.

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According to him, “Zara, Kukwal, and Yakuba, among other communities in Bayo LGA that utilize the road to move their farm produce to the Kwaya Kusar Market in Kwaya Kusar Local Government Area lamented that they could no longer do so due to the state of the road”.

The Kwaya Kusar Market, regarded as the biggest cattle market in Borno State, also serves as the commercial nerve centre of both Bayo and Kwaya Kusar Local Government Areas.

The 29 kilometre Balbaya Road, which starts from Gadan Mallam Kwaya Kusar and links up with Balbaya Community, serves as the most important feeder road serving Fikayel, Limanti and Zara Communities in Balbaya Ward in Bayo LGA, which are mainly agrarian communities.

“Therefore, the good people of Balbaya and Bayo LGA, in general call and appeal to our amiable and committed leader and performing Governor, Prof Babagana Umara Zulum, MNI, FNSE to include the road in his developmental projects through his 2020 Budget of Reality”.

He explained that “the importance of the road cannot be overemphasised as it has over the years helped the area given that the road connects the boundary between Yobe and Borno States. And 95 per cent of the people in the area are predominately cash crop farmers who need the road to move their farm products from the area to the Kwaya Kusar Market”.

“People from outside the State used to come for farming in the area. Also many people come to area, all the way from Onitsha, Benin, Sokoto, and Ibadan to buy cows, goat and even seedling like maize, beans, groundnut, etc”.