A Journey to Remember (Yenagoa to Port Harcourt)

Women Using ladder to get into Truck

How Would you like to travel from Yenagoa To Port Harcourt??: I saw this story on the Punch News paper and felt i should share. 

As a youth corps member, Mr. Junior Jackson is engaged in his primary assignment at Oloibiri in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. He was among the victims of the floods that ravaged many Bayelsa communities and displaced thousands of people.

Jackson, who was only able to salvage his NYSC uniforms, decided to flee the state as the water level kept increasing. He planned to travel to Lagos to reunite with his family, but he had to get to Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, before he could board a bus to his destination.

He went to the bus terminus in Yenagoa called Park, hoping to board a bus to Port Harcourt. However, there was no bus. Instead, he saw people rushing into a truck, the type that is normally used to transport sand to construction sites.

Curiously, Jackson asked one of the touts who were busy loading a set of trucks to direct him to a Port Harcourt park. The tout pointed at the truck and said, “These trucks are going to Port Harcourt. If you are interested, pay your money and climb in.”

Jackson couldn’t understand why a truck meant to transport sand had been turned into a passenger bus of sorts. The tout volunteered more explanations. “Look here, if you know you want to go to Port Harcourt, climb into this truck now or make way for those who are ready. Haven’t you heard that water has taken over the road to Port Harcourt? There is no car or bus that can travel to ‘Port’ from Bayelsa. That is why we are using these trucks,” he said.

After dillydallying, Jackson had no choice than to board the truck. Besides, he saw girls, elderly men, women and children scrambling to get into the truck.

In fact, truck has become the only available means of travelling from Bayelsa State to other parts of the country. This is because the East-West Road, which is the only route out of the state, has been submerged. Apart from being overrun by water, significant parts of it have been washed away. The floods have chopped off one of the lanes at three different parts, restricting vehicles to one lane.

From Mbiama, a border town between Bayelsa State and Okogbe, Rivers State, flood had taken over. The water has also sunk the Patani axis of the road that links travelers from the state to the neighbouring Delta State.

Indeed, there is no difference between a typical river and the road. The ferocious flood dealt so much blow to the state that it cut it off from other parts of the country. Therefore, the only way to navigate the water and get to dry land is by boarding a truck.

Jackson’s experience sums up the transport challenges facing residents of Bayelsa whose homes have been taken over by floods. The Igbo traders leave in droves. Their houses are submerged and their businesses are closed. Out of fear of the unknown, they leave for their villages by trucks.

Climbing a truck is not an easy task. But the touts had provided a ladder to make it easier for the travelers. Teenagers and other able-bodied men and women climb through the ladder to the truck without assistance.

However, weak passengers and vulnerable people such as the elderly, the sick and children are assisted by the touts to climb the trucks. The touts are, indeed, having a field day. Some make jokes with the development, especially when they see pretty girls coming to patronise the unconventional means of transportation. Sometimes, they push the bums of the girls climbing the ladder as they pretend to assist.

The touts and truck drivers are also capitalising on the opportunity to make money. One of them, Chinedu Eze, says every day over 10 passenger-bearing trucks depart Yenagoa to Port Harcourt.

“We have been busy here helping people to go to Port Harcourt. Initially when we started, each passenger was meant to pay N2,000 before boarding; but now, we have reduced it to N1,000,” he says.

But the truck does not get to Port Harcourt. It stops at Elele in Emogha Local Government Area of Rivers State, where the passengers disembark and board another bus that will take them to Port Harcourt after paying additional N500. Then the trucks make U-Turn, and load other stranded passengers returning from Port Harcourt to Yenagoa.

There is always a problem of overloading. One of the truck drivers who identified himself simply as Emeka, says the business is good.

“Right now, there is no sand to carry. Water has submerged the sand. But this business of using my truck to carry passengers is good. In each trip, I carry 45 passengers at N1,000 each, and I can go three or four trips each day. So, it is good business,” he remarks.

Emeka is right. The passengers bear the brunt. They are loaded like packs of frozen fish. Some of them squat, others stand, holding the body of the tuck.

One of the passengers, Kola Odumodu, describes it as a very dangerous means of transport. “I climbed the truck when I got to Elele. I had no choice because the bus I boarded did not go further because of the water. I was scared,” he said.

The state Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission, Mr. Jack Vincent, has expressed concern about what he described as “a risky means of transport;” and appealed to transporters to desist from using trucks as passenger vehicles, as some have been involved in accidents since the practice started.

He says, “People should desist from the practice. Instead of packing people like animals in the truck, I urge those people at the park to go and get high-rise buses.”

He highlights the dangers posed by such method of transport: “The road is riddled with a number of potholes and when the trucks get there, they are likely to fall because water has covered the gullies.

“You can imagine the magnitude of injury that will result from that, especially as the passengers are not protected in any way. Apart from sustaining injuries, passengers can also die.

“One of the trucks fell in Ahoada and caused gridlock on the road for hours. We were able to evacuate the victims and tow the truck away. Almost one lane of the road is chopped off and the thing will keep chopping off because of the water,” he says.

Source: The Punch

Do you think its the Governments responsibility to provide means of transportation in times like this.???