ABSURD: You’re yet to complete road begun over 20yrs ago but awarding new ones
Femi OGUNLANA
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One often wonders why so much absurdity pervades Nigeria. Irreconcilable situations are so much rife that you begin to wonder what kind of country we are in or rather what manner of leaders take charge of our collective destiny!
One such instance is the lackadaisical manner the construction of the Ogbomoso-Ilorin section of the Ibadan-Ilorin new highway unfolds. The project begun in about 2001 is yet to be completed; it has suffered series of half-hearted commitment, manifesting in recurring abandonments. It’s so bad. The old road is a death trap claiming lives like a blood-thirsty fiend on regular basis. Many have been maimed travelling on the road, and properties worth millions in naira continue to get lost to road carnage. Yet the position of those in positions of authorities is, “We care less.”
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It constantly amuses therefore when you now hear the same government awarding new road contracts. One such new contract is the N15.6 trillion 700km Lagos-Calabar road. There are several others like that.
It is pathetic we have a government that operates that way. This road we are talking about is of great significance, it is the major road linkage between the South Western and North Western parts of Nigeria, ever busy with articulated vehicles transporting goods and services. It is certain the one lane old road is now inadequate. That’s why the two lane road needs to be completed in earnest.
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What is left for the road to be completed is about 10 kilometres (Arinkinkin to Federal Government College overhead bridge in Ogbomoso), but as l am writing this piece, the contractor, RCC, has stopped work again, over exhaustion of funds, it is learnt. It has been on and off like this dragging the project forever. It is inexplicable.
I call on Mr. Adelabu Zacc Adedeji, Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Adviser on Revenue to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as well as Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, and other Federal Government functionaries of Oyo state origin, to bring their influence to bear towards facilitating the completion of the project. By what they do is by what they will be remembered.
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Ogbomoso and Oyo cities (Ogbomoso especially) bear the hardest brunt of the malady as the ubiquitous trucks with their overloads often cause havoc in their territories.
When about two weeks ago, news of the impending visit to the site by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, emanated, it elicited immense joy however his failure to make the trip engendered a forlorn feeling. That is to gauge the mood of the people of the area. We therefore appeal to him to accomplish what his predecessors could not undertake in over twenty years.
We are part of Nigeria let the road be completed.
