The traffic congestion, roadblocks in Port Harcourt could have been avoided but no we want to attend to different roads and construct 20 flyovers at the same time, big thank you to Mr. Project.
The Effect of the traffic congestion and curfew
A local government area is trying to deal with the issue of insecurity using a particular method and this method hasn’t worked in that LGA and now the same method is been applied to other L.G.Areas in Rivers state.
The idea of curfew started with Obibo, military men were sent to Obibo to ensure that people observe the curfew yet the unknown gunmen are still penetrating and are destroying lives and properties. I thought the curfew was to stop the menace? This didn’t work in that L.G.A why bring it on to another? Can our government for once sit down to implement functional policies? Why are they always in a haste to give commands? You don’t wake up in the morning and decide for a whole state without critically examining your decision. A state is not run by an individual alone.
It was raining heavily that day and the usual traffic, I saw people jumping down from buses and trekking in the rain, they blocked Ada George and everyone is supposed to be back home before 8:30 pm. How? This is pure suffering.
I watched businessmen and women become traffic Wardens in the roads, I saw a complete shutdown and I saw Nigerians being patient for the first time, you really can’t fly or jump with how clustered the roads were.
Of course, trust Nigerians to extort themselves with the opportunity, the transportation fare increased and I couldn’t help to cry about how the poor are to survive. I am also trying to get my life and all these hikes and inconveniences are not helping at all.
A journey that was meant to take just 30 mins or less took us about 2hours to accomplish. Dad came home really late last night and kept everyone awake worrying about his well-being with the numerous stories of insecurity. It didn’t end here, he complained about leg pain and waist pain and this is the case for most families, right now; if you can’t stay in the traffic you get down and trek the distance just so you are not on the road before the curfew starts.
I woke up so early this morning to go about my activities just so I don’t get cut up in the traffic but unfortunately I am writing this piece in traffic, because how else do I spend my already wasted day. It’s overwhelming that anyone could just wake up any day to make life miserable for people in Nigeria. This is my story as a Nigerian girl in Port Harcourt City.
Port Harcourt has been a mess lately, with gunshots and killings by people whose identity remains unknown to our government. They kill the masses without any form of remorse for their families.
The construction of roads and flyovers, very nice; no one is against development but what are these projects for? Why construct 15 flyovers at a time knowing that the roads are important to the people to go about their activities. Why can’t we be done with one and move on to another? Why do we have to have all the major roads blocked? I want this to make sense to me because I can’t get it.
These roads are blocked and people don’t have to go about their businesses because the government has instructed that they don’t go close due to the projects and people are hungry and many are suffering.
It’s very hard in Port Harcourt, right now, I mean, I hear my dad complain about his ordeal while going to work and even worse when coming back home, people who own cars pack their cars to trek long distances to work and back home. Everywhere is clustered in Port Harcourt and life is hard here.
We were still trying to manage the roadblocks, traffic, restrictions, and hike of transportation fares, and curfew was included in the list, now tell me if this is fair; Some are still trying to get to their workplaces and others are struggling to be back home before the scheduled time for curfew.
This is hard, life is so stressful here, I don’t even see the need to go out these days because what is this suffering? I didn’t see a need to have a second phone until at Agip junction 2 phones were snatched and wallets taken, phones of people trying to beat the curfew, phones of people trying to get vehicles back home. I told myself, that I am going to get a small phone because I can’t risk my phone to nonsense.
This is becoming really frustrating I hope the Rivers state government acts really fast because this traffic congestion in Port Harcourt is becoming unbearable.
