LETTER: Your Excellency, Gov Makinde, we are tired of bad roads too
Femi OGUNLANA
Oyo state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde while commissioning a private shopping mall in Ibadan on Saturday promised intra-city roads in the state capital will be massively rehabilitated.
Specifically, he mentioned Challenge-Ring Road to Mile 110 Junction and the Beere-Yemetu-Bodija-University of Ibadan roads, which he said would be reconstructed completely.
“People have been complaining about the internal roads in Ibadan and I went round to check for myself. I can announce today that in three weeks, we will award the contracts and they will be mobilised to sites.
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“For the Ring Road, from Challenge to the point linking Abeokuta Expressway, we are reconstructing it completely, because this is a major highway in Oyo State. And from Beere, we are reconstructing from that point to U.I. All of that will be awarded in a matter of weeks,” the governor said.
That is commendable but the governor should not forget other cities which are integral parts of the state. Road infrastructures in other cities are crying for repairs as well having succumbed to agents of dilapidation.
In Ogbomoso for example, which is the second largest in the state after Ibadan, most internal roads have become unmotorable, posing great danger and inconvenience to road users and pedestrians. Local governments used to stand in the gap fixing roads within their purview and opening new ones but their loss of vibrancy due to reasons known to you, Your Excellency, have made bad times caught up with roads in council areas. Even ordinary culverts, local governments cannot undertake their executions any longer. Too bad!
Thus, we appeal to you to extend the road reconstruction “palliatives” to other parts of the state, we are suffering severely in this aspect too. In fact, we are envious, Ibadan is now having about two bus terminals that have made inter-cities transportation better and fairer as well as enhancing the more the beauty of the capital city. There is also the unprecedented circular road being constructed aside the numerous flyovers.
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Your Excellency, I want to remind you of a promise you made in Ogbomoso few years ago in the early days of your (first) tenure, when you said as you re-echoed yesterday that you drove round Ogbomoso and found out there was no flyover in the metropolis and you promised before man and God that before your first tenure would end, you will give us at least one. We hailed you and waited with great expectations. We are still waiting! You have proven to be a man of your word – that your word is your bond – we want to believe you have not made the promise in vain, so, we will eagerly wait for its fulfillment as well as for the repair of internal roads in the metropolis and especially opening of new ones in the many new developed areas. Roads linking other local governments in the zone are also in bad conditions needing reconstructions likewise, which we believe you will see to.
Your Excellency, the time is short, only by what we are able to accomplish in that short time shall we be remembered for. Today, in Ogbomoso, we recollect with fondness late Alhaji Lam Adesina for the international market (though made non-functional) he built for us, Senator Rashidi Ladoja for the Senate Building at LAUTECH, late Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala for the LAUTECH Teaching Hospital/College of Health Sciences and numerous intra-city road repairs and late Senator Abiola Ajimobi for the dual-carriage way in the metropolis. These past helmsmen made their marks in the city through those major projects, we want you to make your mark too via a major project that will enhance the aesthetic of the city and engender some conveniences.
I pray God will give you the willingness to enable these.
