By Victor Ogunje
The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has assured the people that the ongoing lockdown caused by Covid-19 won’t affect the execution of road projects and governance in general.
The state government, through the Public Works Corporation (PWC), is utilising the lockdown period to carry out massive rehabilitation of the roads in many parts of Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
Afao Road, one of the roads being rehabilitated, is located in Oke Ila quarters of the city and was notorious for damaging vehicles plying them until the ongoing works there.
Fayemi, who paid an unscheduled visit to the site to monitor the PWC workmen on Thursday, said his administration is aware of the hardship being faced by residents plying the road.
A motorist, Mr. Femi Adara, commended the governor for monitoring the work on the rehabilitation, saying all hopes have been lost on the road being brought back to shape again.
Adara said: “This road has been a big headache for us and it is good to see the governor coming here to personally monitor the progress of work.
“Car owners and drivers used to visit mechanics because of the condition of this road and we urge the engineers working on it to do a thorough job for it to be back to normal condition very soon.”
Another resident, Mr. Dare Idowu, said: “Fayemi is living up to his electoral promise to make all our roads motorable again and we thank him for rescuing this Oke Ila Road because this place is densely populated.”
Fayemi has said the Covid-19 lockdown has given his administration an opportunity to rehabilitate many Ado Ekiti township roads that were in bad condition.
Fayemi expressed satisfaction that PWC men are all over the state capital rehabilitating the damaged roads to give relief to residents and facilitate traffic from one place to the other.
Many township roads in Ado Ekiti have become nightmares to motorists and motorcyclists many of whom visit mechanics to repair their vehicles and bikes owing to their bad condition.
Fayemi said: “This is really the best time for them (PWC) to work. This is Ekiti Public Works Corporation and what they are doing is mending and patching of our bad roads so that they can make them good.
“If you look at the way they are working at Oke Ila now, there is no traffic because there is lockdown and that is an advantage.
“Looking at other places like Onigari, Adebayo, Adekaitan among others, they are working because we want to make sure that we make the township roads good for those who ply them and for traffic to flow more easily.”
The Director General of Ekiti PWC, Mr. Sunday Awoyomi, assured the governor that the fixing of the roads would stand the test of time and would be completed in record time.
Awoyomi said: “We are doing quality work here and we are giving attention to details and we are also taking into consideration that we are aware that the roads had failed in the past.
“That is why we are doing a serious work this time around in terms of getting the basics right and we are using the best materials you can find around.”
