The completion of the Buruku Bridge will undoubtedly transform transportation across the River Katsina-Ala. While the bridge is a welcome development, it also presents a major challenge for the many ferry operators, boat owners, and other maritime workers at Buruku and Abuku whose livelihoods have depended on river crossings for decades.
Rather than waiting for the bridge to render their businesses obsolete, this is the time to develop an alternative that preserves jobs while creating new economic opportunities.
One promising opportunity lies in establishing a commercial water transport service linking the former Benue Brewery area through the Adasu Lake Road corridor to the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi (JOSTUM).
For years, I have reflected on how the Adasu Lake Road could become more than simply the access road to the retirement home of one of Benue’s greatest statesmen, the late Rev. Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu. The answer may lie in developing a modern inland water transport corridor.
Much of the basic infrastructure already exists. The former Benue Brewery and the Adasu development laid a foundation which, despite years of vandalism, theft, and neglect, can be rehabilitated with relatively modest investment. Constructing a functional jetty behind the former brewery and reopening the river crossing to JOSTUM would unlock enormous economic potential.
Such a service would offer a shorter and more convenient route for thousands of students, lecturers, non-academic staff, and visitors who currently travel through the Wurukum–SRS axis to reach JOSTUM. A direct ferry service would reduce travel time, lower transportation costs, ease traffic congestion, and provide a dependable alternative to road transport.
The benefits would extend well beyond transportation. Increased movement of people would stimulate housing development and commercial activities around the Brewery–Adasu corridor, attracting investment in retail, hospitality, recreation, and other support services. The area could gradually evolve into a vibrant economic district while preserving employment for Buruku’s experienced maritime workforce.
This presents an opportunity for pioneers such as Kur Ukin, who introduced organised ferry transportation in Buruku, to reposition their businesses for the future rather than be displaced by it. Instead of competing with the bridge, they can complement it by serving an entirely different corridor with substantial and growing demand.
However, if existing operators fail to seize this opportunity, others almost certainly will.
One organisation that immediately comes to mind is Benue Links Nigeria Limited. Under the award-winning leadership of its General Manager, Sir Alexander Fanafa, the company has demonstrated a willingness to expand and improve transportation services across the state. Indeed, an old Benue Links billboard captured this broader vision with the memorable slogan: “Benue Links… transporting you road-wise, water-wise.” Perhaps the time has come to give practical meaning to those words.
The Buruku Bridge should therefore not signal the end of inland water transportation in Benue. Instead, it should mark the beginning of a new era—one in which river transport complements road infrastructure, connects communities more efficiently, supports educational institutions, creates employment, stimulates private investment, and unlocks the economic potential of the River Benue.
Those who recognise this opportunity early will not merely survive the changes the bridge will bring—they will help define the future of transportation in Benue State.
