From Taiwo Oluwadare, Ibadan
residents and business owners of Oniyeye, Alao-Akala Way, Okebadan Estate, Lagelu Local Government, Ibadan, have appealed to both local and state governments to assist them to complete the three-kilometre road in the area.
They made the appeal as they kick-started the construction of the road on Friday, January 27, 2017:
“The road was a death trap because it was full of potholes and many portions were washed away by erosion.” Zonal chairman of Oniyeye Residents Association, Mr. Adeleke Kayode, said after all efforts to call attention of both the local and state governments failed, they pulled their resources together to repair the road “hoping that when government sees our their seriousness,” they will help to complete the road:
“We have informed Lagelu LG, but the chairman complained of paucity of fund to support us. Although he told us to go ahead with the project that he will support us when fund is available.
“To kick start the project, we started with six trucks of asphalts. Before now, we have laid 16 trucks of stone base and t graders, MC1, bitumen and other materials are on ground. The resident engineers are on ground to offer direct labour to save cost. Also, we make everything transparent as we pay directly from our director to companies’ account to purchase all materials needed for the construction.”
Adeleke added that they requested N10 million from Lagelu LG out of the N29 million needed for the project. He said the association also wrote to the state government. He said though past governments made promises without fulfilling, but they hope the government of the day will not disappoint them. He said the project has gulped over N6 million.
He added that the road is a link for people coming from Akobo and going to Wofun end to Monatan and Olodo areas of the city:
“I remember whenever former governor Aadebayo Alao-Akala wanted to travel to Ogbomoso, his hometown, he used to travel through this road to avoid traffic logjam. Also, the government awarded road project from Akobo to Olorunda end.
“This road will be busier because there will be diversion which will make people come through this road. Due to this bad road in the past, we have had security issues where there were reports of hijacking of cars and that is one of the reasons we felt we should start this project in earnest.”
Adeleke said the concern of the residents and business owners in the area is not limited to road but other infrastructure like electricity, good security and streetlight:
“We have started building police post around Palace Bus-Stop which has almost reached completion. We are doing this to assist government because we know there are financial challenges.
Chairman working committee in the area, Mr. Adekola Sulaimon, said before now, the condition of the road was terrible because the residents used to do repairs every year:
“This time, we want to make a durable construction with quality materials that will make the road more durable. That is why we first applied the stone-base, adequate thickness of asphalts to make it last for five to 10 years.
“Before now, we did put only laterite and stone base but this time, we use asphalts with high thickness to make it stronger to enhance its durability. We are also putting up drainages to make the road last. Already, we have spent over N7 million and what we calculated to be our total cost on the whole road length is between N29 and N30 million due to market variables.”