By Ogar Monday
Youths in Adim community in Biase local government area of Central Cross River State are currently extorting motorists plying the Adim section of the Calabar-Ikom-Katsina Ala highway in the name of maintaining the bad portion CrossRiverWatch can authoritatively report.
Motorists plying the route are made to pay between N100 and N1,000 depending on size, load and bargaining capacity of the driver before being assisted to navigate through bad portions or use the alternative route created by them.
The youths in their numbers use woods and tires to block the road leading to their village and bypassing the bad spot of the road and motorist are still made to pay before leaving the village as there is another road block there and will deny passage to any motorist who fails to pay the stipulated fee, and will become violent if one questions them.
One of the youths who spoke to this reporter said that the money was not meant for them as it was the community that sent them and they are to remit whatever money realized back to the community at the end of the day. He said that; “The road constructed by the government is impassable and the community is therefore providing a service, which is the use of their road to motorist for a fee.”
When informed that the Government built the road they are collecting toll for, he replied by saying that; “It is the responsibility of the community to maintain the road and that is what the toll money will be used for.”
The state government recently intervened in a section of the Calabar-Ogoja road which failed sometimes last month and it is yet to be known if the state government will also intervene in the Adim axis of the road especially considering the state’s pronouncement that it is being owed over N20billion from the repair of federal roads in the state.