For over two hours, angry and frustrated youths, Monday, kept commutters stranded in Minna, the capital of Niger State, over the poor roads that lead in and out of the State to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Equally frustrated travellers lamented their predicament as many sweated it out in the traffic hold-up that stretched as far as the eyes could see.
The youths protested the neglect of the Federal roads in the State and called on the President to come to their aid.
It took the combined efforts of security agents to calm the frayed nerves of the youths, before inter-state travellers could move.
Since the departure of two former military leaders, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, from power at the centre, the State has not had any major work done on roads.
Intra-state roads have also suffered with yearly collapses whenever the rains come, because of the poor quality of work done by successive civilian administrations at the State level.
Almost yearly, portions of the Minna-Abuja federal road are patched, but fail due to the rains.
Worse, travellers do the approximately 70 minutes journey in hours. Another journey between Minna and Bida that should not exceed 45 minutes also takes hours due to the bad roads.
