Protest Rocks Ekiti over Deplorable Federal Roads

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

Anger is now brewing across 12 local government areas (LGAs) in Ekiti State over the abysmal and deplorable conditions of federal highways, which indigenes of the state have described as nightmarish and regressive.

The indigenes became concerned with the decision of the federal government to stop the Ekiti State Government from reconstructing some of the federal roads in the state after securing $350 million from African Development Bank (AfDB) for this purpose.

Consequently, the conditions of federal road yesterday protests in Efon Alaaye and Erio yesterday due to the outright collapse of the second most important federal highway that connected Ado Ekiti to Osun State.

Besides Efon Alaaye and Erio, residents of Ado Ekiti, Ikere, Ikole, Irepodun/Ifelodun, Ekiti South-West and Ekiti West LGAs lamented the deplorable conditions of the federal roads in the state.

They lamented how their communities and towns had been cut off from the entire state and with kidnappers and marauding killers hiding under the situation to commit various nefarious actions like kidnapping to get ransoms.

Recently, residents of Ikere Ekiti and the neighbouring Iju, in Ondo State trooped out in large numbers to demand explanations from the Minister of Works, Babatunde Raji Fashola over alleged neglect of the Ado-Ikere-Akure road.

Despite that Fashola unveiled the reconstruction of the road in Ado Ekiti in 2020, the federal government had only released N1.4 billion for the project that was awarded Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company at N30 billion.

Consequently, residents bemoaned that nothing appreciable had been done in terms of rehabilitation or reconstruction to palliate the sufferings of the travellers and residents along that route.

The same sordid scenario played out in Ikole, Ayebode, Ayedun and Ilasa, where residents are groaning under heavy burden of deplorable Ifaki-Ayebode-Omuo road that links the state to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

Most disturbing was the fact that vehicles, especially the heavy duty ones that are traveling to Abuja or returning to Lagos fondly diverted to the state owned roads constructed by the administration of former Governor Kayode Fayemi, thereby destroying them due to pressure.

The situation had necessitated the cutting off of Ado-Ilawe –igbara-Oke road at Ilawe, with motorists that were supposed to travel from Ado to Ilawe – Ekiti, a distance of 11 kilometres now being subjected to the rigour of rigmaroling via Ado-Igede-Ilawe that covers over 30 kilometres.

In 2020, Efon Alaaye residents protested the recurrent cases of abduction of commuters on Ita Ure- Iwaraja road, an enroute to Osun border and farmstead under Efon LGA, where many motorists were also shot and killed.

Miffed by this sordid situation, especially the worsening conduction of Efon-Erio-Aramoko road, residents of Erio- Ekiti, Ekiti West Local Government Area of Ekiti State yesterday protested against the federal government’s “insensitivity” to their plights, saying the town has been cut off from the state.

 Slamming the contractor handling the reconstruction of the road for being allegedly slow and shoddy in execution, the protesters appealed to the federal government to effect the arrest and prosecution of the owner of the company for sabotage and breach of public trust.

They regretted that the bad condition of road was seriously causing security threat, as kidnapping has started resurging around the town.

The residents, who trooped out en masse during the protest, expressed readiness to continually file out to make their grievances known to the public until the needful is done.

Speaking on the condition of the federal roads yesterday, the President, Erio-Ekiti Development Union, Elder Akin Adeniji, who led the protest, said the road had failed at both ends of the town, thereby making it difficult for motorists to access the town, which he said was causing severe economic hardship.

 Adeniji bemoaned how their farm products like yams, tomatoes, pepper, cassava and others, were rotten away due to inability to transport them to the nearby markets, while those selling along the roads have lost patronages due to the parlous condition of the road.

According to him, the usual road- side businesses had become a thing of the past, while markets have been shut down because the road was no longer motorable to travellers.

“We are not happy with the poor way the contractors had been executing the road projects. He has been causing a lot of delay. Moreso, the contractors had not provided any alternative route, and were using direct labour, which makes the job proceeds at a very slow pace.

“The hardship, danger of insecurity and anxiety caused to the people in the last two months were no longer bearable. The contractor must be questioned about how he has been doing this job.

“The federal government must arrest and prosecute him because we noticed that the channels constructed by road sides were already abrading which showed that he used substandard materials”.

Adeniji said that the union had written official letters to the Federal Ministry of works and Housing, as well as the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) on the matter, appealing to government to quickly rescue the town from fears of insecurity and denial of accessibility.

“FERMA decided to cut Erio-Ekiti off from the rest of the world all in the name of fixing culverts and constructing drainages instead of executing the projects in phases so that there could be room for vehicular movements.

“The contractors used 8mm rods to construct the drainages of a Trunk ‘A’ Road for that matter. You can see that the drainages are already peeling off because the measure of sand used was greater than cement and we doubt if they can last for six months before collapsing again.

“Summarily, as a trunk A road that links Lagos-Ibadan-Ado-Ekiti to Abuja, the Erio Ekiti portion of it must be perfectly fixed so as to avoid incessant collapses”.

Also speaking, two high Chiefs from the town, Alhaji Lawal and Ojo Timothy as well as Mr. Akanni Akinjobi, explained that since the road had been closed months ago, the town has suffered crises in the areas of economy, health and education, as school children now face hardship getting to schools because the road had been cut off.