Ogbomoso youth restive: How bad roads exposed waning influence of their politicians, top people
Ben GEORGE
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It appears the glorious days Ogbomoso politicians and highly placed people in government and in society generally are gone. In the past the kind of hardship and suffering imposed by deplorable condition of roads in the metropolis would not have persisted in such horrendous manner. Ostensibly, in the current dispensation we have endured a wane in influence, which is an untoward development. Gone are the days when such a thing would not have lasted more than necessary, such people would have risen to the challenge for the expungement of such sore point and fixed the problem.
For months now, the major trunk A road linking the northern and southern parts of the country through Ogbomoso, has caved in to degradation making it virtually impassable to vehicles. Both residents and travellers face humongous hardship navigating the road especially within a 500m stretch that falls in the centre of the town. Badly riddled with gulf, trailers spend days just because of this 500m stretch. The road is now characterized by long rows of trailers, stuck, unable to proceed in their journey. They tumble at every whim endangering and actually claiming lives particularly when there is rainfall. They have become nuisance as their presence inflicts intolerable inconvenience on the inhabitants who also face untold difficulties driving through this particular road. Businesses are paralyzed. Residents who have business outlets along the “axis of suffering” are closing shops. The unfortunate trucks transporting goods between Lagos, Ibadan, Oyo, Abeokuta, Sagamu etc and the north suffer severe losses too especially of perishable goods due to unwarranted delays. It is not uncommon seeing trailers stretching 70 kms on either directions. The road is a death trap, it is a perfect reenactment of hell on earth.
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Many inhabitants have called attention to the road through various platforms – social media, videos, conventional media and what have you. But no government, whether federal (under whose purview the road falls), state or even the castrated local government, has shown concern towards remedying the situation. Government is indeed “dead” in Nigeria as once noted. Government is meant to alleviate the problems of its citizens but when a gaping need like this is unattended to one can as well conclude government is indeed dead.
Aerial views of scenes of the road:
The youths in the community are agitated, they are being taken over by restlessness. In this “axis of suffering,” are domiciled a teaching hospital, a theological institution, a commercial bank, church, secondary, primary and nursery schools and numerous entrepreneurship outlets whose services are now adversely hampered. It is a critical situation. The youth are mulling in real life and on social media – “Operation Fix Ogbomoso road now.” But no one is responding. Some have mooted the idea of cutting off the road altogether so that “we know the link to the north through this particular major gateway is non-existent.” Everyone is fed up. The youth are saying “Enough of road suffering upon economic hardship.” They are yelling, “Why is it difficult to repair the road from fuel subsidy fund accumulations?” They are tired of running battles with heavy duty vehicles’ drivers seeking endlessly to take alternative township roads which will certainly engender their complete damage, which are as well suffering inhuman neglects. They are boiling over with anger. They are annoyed Oyo state government is aware of the situation evident in its quick intervention to take panicky measures to protect its newly built road between Ogbomoso and Iseyin, deploying cumbersome barricades that now obstruct traffic of even small vehicles within the town. They are overwrought that their state government billions of naira to upgrade an airport when a “fraction” of that amount is needed to restore normal life, road sanity and economic value in their marginalized community. The young population is consumed in exasperation that the state government the people voted for has ignored and neglected them in this critical period.
But it all boils down to lack of influence in government. The town has prominent figures in government, from a Chief of Staff at the state level, chairman of ruling party’s elders forum, numerous appointees and elected officers, DG of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)/Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Permanent Secretaries, ranking lawmakers, influential personalities including royal fathers enjoying close affinity with who – is – who in governments at state and federal levels. It is inexplicable and indeed ridiculous none could exert influence to get the crucial need met ASAP. The best ray of hope that has emerged is the Senate promising to send a delegation for on-the-spot assessment on a future date – something so urgent. Our men of “timber and caliber” seem to have lost it. None appears to be reckoned with again at both the state and national levels. A 500 meter road should not have held to ransom a community that produced frontliners in Nigeria’s struggle for independence, Premier of the leading geopolitical region, civil war heroes, IG, Armed Forces’ service chiefs, military and civilian governors of note, federal ministers who recorded extra-ordinary performances, and other national icons who immensely contributed to national development. The current ordeal is thus an indication of wane in influence or perhaps revelation of inadequate knowledge of how to leverage on the town’s rich antecedents on the part of the men who occupy the front seat from the town. It also is a demonstration of wane in bravery – lack of men who can diplomatically, effectively and efficiently take on people who matter to get things done for their constituency.
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Though one is not ruling out the possibility that we now have men, who are immune to empathy, to responding to entreaties, honouring their loyal servants’ requests for community developments, and so on, now dominating governments. It is a possibility in view of the prevailing trend of absolutists occupying power. Nonetheless, bad times require more of strategic measures, to get things done. Heroes are needed in a time like this. It is not only in regards of roads but in other abandoned projects as well, the abandoned new Ibadan – Ilorin expressway that also remains 5km also within Ogbomoso axis, 132kv electricity substation, a completed federal hospital, police institutions, federal fire service and so on, all required capable men to get them done
The bottom line is to get the road fixed. Aluta continua … Victoria ascerta. It’s believed nevertheless that the glorious past will return if not now but in the future.
