Shock as 7-month old Ogbegun road in Ogbomoso collapses
Khalid ABRAHAM
A heavy downpour Tuesday has finally exposed the shoddy, substandard work done by the contractor that built the Ogbegun access road/bridge in Ogbomoso North local government as the portions adjoining the bridge have developed visible cracks with some parts already caving in.
“The bridge and the road were completed not more than seven months ago but now the portions near the bridge have collapsed. It has become risky for vehicles and motorcycles to drive over it,” a resident, Stephen Oyeleke, told ogbomosoinsightonline.com.
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“We have always known the job was substandard and we complained to the authorities of Ogbomoso North local government, which awarded the contract in conjunction with the state government but nothing was done.
“The road is undulating and has been caving in since its completion but the contractor always patches up the faulty areas but now the fault has manifested in several areas and the road is now unmotorable, for it could totally collapse at any time, which may lead to catastrophe, it is regrettable that the millions of naira spent on the road is going down the drain.”
The road project was flagged off by the chairman of Ogbomoso North local government, Hon Kabir Akanji in November 2022 with fanfare. Residents were joyous that their plight was to be relieved at last with the contractor promising to deliver the project in record time which was fulfilled.
The old bridge collapsed about three years previously which made residents took longer, dilapidated routes to reach the main road.
“The road project was thus a source of immense joy to us,” Oyeleke added. “The Oke-Ogbegun Landlords Association paid for advertorials on radio stations to express gratitude to the Oyo state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde. It is shocking and lamentable that we are now returning to the period of road hardship.”
The residents all appealed to the government to quickly attend to the problem, “the contractor should be summoned to see the shoddy work he did,” residents stated.
