The residents of Ibadan especially in Old Ife Road, Iwo Road and areas along Akobo axis have cried out to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to earnestly come to their aid to repair dilapidated roads in their areas.
According to the residents, life have been hellish for them as their vehicles always develop faults coupled with difficulty to get to their places of work early due to traffic logjam they experience everyday.
Recalled that before February 2017, the affected roads in Ibadan were single lane until Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration decided to make them double-lane. However, the government that time gave the contractors 18 months to complete the roads but to the contrary, the time frame for completion ends in August 2018 without meeting the deadline.
According to reports, the 18 months ultimatum was given by the last administration to enable the Ajimobi led-administration to commission the roads before he left office in May 2019.
However, only about 50 percent of the roads have been completed so far. Some are saying the funds to complete the roads were not released to the contractors while some said it was a deliberate action to induced people to vote for the APC guber candidate in 2019 election, Chief Adebayo Adelabu in order to ensure continuity in office.
About three months ago, there were people burnt beyond recognition under Sawmill bridge popularly known as Onipepeye bridge at Old Ife Road after a truck loaded with petrol spilled its content and caught fire and many person died in the incident. It was gathered that many person died because of deplorable condition of the road which caused traffic logjam in which many people died that day because there was no way to escape the tragic incident.
These and many other challenges faced by the people plying the roads and these have made residents relocating from these areas to find better conducive area. LiveTimesNg speaks with some road users in Old Ife Road area and they quipped that, they are afraid that the roads may be left abandoned by the present administration because it has become tradition of public office holders not to complete projects started by their predecessors because the credit will rather be given to their predecessors instead of them.
The residents are therefore appealing to the Governor Seyi Makinde Led-government to please ignore this insinuation and to please come to their rescue to complete the roads on time.
LiveTimesNG however gathered that government officials has toured the roads and promised that soon there will lasting solutions to the plight of residents who ply the roads.
