We used to call the bridge Langa-Langa because until the late 1970s, the suspended colonial bridge was the only means of getting to the remaining part of Bauchi State and beyond in that part of Plateau. The relic of that bridge still stands as shown in the second picture of this post.
Then the malale - concrete bridge - was built during the Tatari era and people became happier. Vehicles can now cross the Dilimi river while farms and settlements were established across the river. With emigration from central Nigeria, the population of that part of Tilden Fulani, like its other parts, has skyrocketed.
Today, over a thousand people, mostly farmers, school children and milk maids, cross the Malale daily. When there are heavy rains in Jos, as it was this morning, the villagers learn to avoid the violent river, as Al-Mutanabbi would advise, because not even Malale could be seen - it has disappeared as a warning to her users. They wait by the banks for several hours on their way to or from the market until the river subsides and Malale resurfaces once more to safely ferry them and their wagons across.
The sad news is that Lady Malale is now very sick. She has been ravaged by heavy mining and sand ferrying trucks from Jos. Designed to carry only light vehicles, animals and people, a duty which she has religiously carried out for over 30 years now, she repeatedly cried out against the burden of these heavy trucks but nobody could listen.
Finally, she has started to cave in, threatening to allow the violent river to wash away her feet and yield her to the fate of her suspended predecessor of the colonial era. When she is done and dead, the lives of thousands of people across the river and on this side of it too, will be adversely affected, if not sealed up altogether, economically. To access either side of the river during the raining season, a 30-km journey must be undertaken through Jos and Saya, along the Jos-Zaria Highway.
It is time to raise my voice on her behalf and on behalf of her customers, now that there is a resident and listening Governor in Bauchi. That was the conclusion I reached when I strolled this morning down to the riverside to recollect my 1974 memory of it. It was the last river in which I washed my cloth and took a bath as a child, on a Sunday, 27 February, 1974 that I will never forget.
On the day I was off duty as a cattle-boy, only to be told on my return home from the river that my six months late admission into Form 1 at GSS Ganye has arrived. That was the last day I bathed in a river, the last day I would rear cattle in a free range, and it remains the happiest day in my life, knowing fully then that the future now is beyond the village, confirmed, beyond rearing cows or tilling the land, but out there, one day, in schools and offices. I, therefore, owe the river a debt. I must speak out to save its bridge, now that I have returned to it, to the roots.
So MA, Your Excellency, here I am appealing for you to come to the aid of this little bridge. Malale is a modest lady, just 25m long. Her two arms are cracking, as shown in the first picture here. One large crevice has become the devil's gate through which the disaster of amputating her limbs is waiting to happen. And soon will it happen, this raining season, unless you solve this simultaneous equation urgently.
The first is to restrict the use of the bridge to only light trucks of not more than 3 tonnes gross weight. The best way to do it is to fix a permanent delimiting steel or concrete pillar on either side of her banks. This will stop the impending catastrophe and avoid future abuse. The pillars of the suspended bridge built over 90 years ago are still standing as shown in the picture. Something like that should be repeated.
The second is to immediately order the refilling of the expanding crevice. Then, when the raining season is over, refill the two arms professionally, beyond the local government work whose standard is limited by cuwa-cuwa.
You do not need to spend a kobo from the scarce state government funds. Toro LGA receives the second highest subvention in Northern Nigeria after Bauchi LGA. Direct the administrator to do it under a competent supervisor and contractor. Shi ke nan.
Any day you solve this equation correctly, Malale will be happy, Dilimi will be happy and all of us here will be happy. Only then can I gather the strength to return to the river and continue with the recollection of my childhood association with it.
Thank you.
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
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