By DANIELA NEBA NGUM
The bad roads leading to Ndian Division from Kumba has brought panic in the minds elites who fear that the division will soon be separated from the rest of the country.
Travelling to Ndian Division has never been a bed of roses neither has it ever been an enjoyable trip be it during the rainy or dry season. During the rainy season drivers go through huddles to deal with thick mud that glues to the tyres of vehicles like tar causing most of the vehicles to be stuck for days. It usually takes the services of close to 10 muscular boys to lift the vehicle and rescue the passengers while sometimes a heavy duty truck is need to do the job.
The situation is no better in the dry season when the road is usually covered with several centimetres of dust. Travellers are usually advised against wearing brightly coloured clothes as dust will simply engulf them during the odious journey.
The situation has caused many to trek for long distances to escape potholes that are sometimes, a few metres deep before boarding a vehicle to their destinations.
“It is a very sad situation, I am shocked that despite being the fourth largest division in the Southwest Region, Ndian is the only division without even a kilometre of tarred road, this is social injustice”, Mr.Itoe, a Ndian elite lamented.
Mr. Itoe furthered that Ndian Division has natural resources that are been extracted on a daily basis to contribute to the development of the country but there is little or no development carried out in the division that provides the resources.
Some of the travellers who spoke to The SUN lamented on the increase of transport cost during the rainy season. They noted that during the dry season transport fare from Kumba to Ekondo Titi used to be FCFA 2000 but now the fare has increased to FCFA 4000 and above depending on the day’s weather.
Meanwhile, transport fare from Kumba to Small Ekombe, a village at the outskirts of Kumba which used to be FCFA 500 increased to FCFA 1,500 on bikes because of the bad nature of the roads.
Farmers, who make up about 90% of the population, have expressed disappointment with the government. They noted that most of their produce is left in their farms with little or no means to transport home or to the markets in the big cities.
They furthered that the bad roads have caused rural exodus in their communities, low level of education of their children since most of the big colleges are located far away and poor infrastructural development.
Drivers on their part disclosed that the increase of fare cost is as a result of the difficult terrain they go through. They say a considerable percentage of the money they make is used to pay boys who assist them to push their vehicles out from the mud.
It is however not all sad and gloom in the division as boys who are involved in the business of pushing stuck vehicles have noted that they have been making money during the rainy season. 
“Though what we do is very strenuous, we are satisfied at the end of the day because we make a lot of money from it. Each driver we assist to push the vehicle from the mud pays us FCFA 1000”, Lionel Etongwe, one of the car pushers told The SUN.
Motorbikes to the rescue
Due to the heavy downpour and the continuous grading of some parts of the road as a result of the ongoing construction works, vehicles and heavy duty trucks have difficulty sailing through the difficult terrain. As a result, most passengers resort to boarding motorbikes which they say enables them to pass through the muddy parts of the road before boarding a vehicle to their destination.
The risk is however huge as many passengers have reportedly been thrown off their bikes into the thick mud due to the slippery nature of the roads in the rainy season.
PAMOL tractor services
The agro-industrial company, PAMOL has assisted the population and users of the Kumba-Ekondo Titi stretch of road with a tractor. The population says the kind gesture from Pamol has greatly eased the movement of goods and persons.
According to some private drivers, it is thanks to the tractor that they were able to pull out their vehicles from the thick mud.