Army Reopens Madagali-Gwoa Road

The Nigerian Army yesterday announced that it had re-opened the Madagali-Gwoza Road linking Borno and Adamawa States, closed several months ago due to the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents.

The Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj-Gen. Lucky Irabor, disclosed this when he received a delegation from the House of Representatives Committee on Defence in his office in Maiduguri.

Irabor explained that the road was re-opened to allow for humanitarian services for victims of insurgency in the area.

“We have re-opened the road some days now.

“The only thing is that we have not officially announced the re-opening in the media,” he said.

Irabor, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the army decided to re-open the road following improvement in the security situation in the area.

“We do not re-open road because of protests or complaints.

“But we look at the situation from the security view, in the last couple of days social and commercial activities have begun to pick up around Gwoza.

“So we decided that re-opening the road will further help to boost the situation,” he said.

Irabor, however, said that the several other roads will remain closed pending when the security situation improved.

“Other roads like Mafa-Gamboru-Ngala are still closed, so also is Mafa-Gajiran and Maiduguri-Dikwa road among others.

“They will remain closed pending when the situation improves greatly,” he said.

The leader of the delegation, Alhaji Aliyu Isa, said that the visit was as a result of the House of Representatives resolution. He said that the House mandated the committee to investigate the continued closure of the Madagali-Gwoza road by the military.