OYO TO OGBOMOSO->On Your Own

OYO TO OGBOMOSO->On Your Own

I must use this medium to rant about the state of the road that connects the town of Oyo with Ogbomoso. What on earth is that? What “jazz” did the incumbent governor of Oyo state put in his mouth when he campaigned in Ogbomoso? They made to expand the road which cuts through Ogbomoso past the Baptist Seminary and Bowen University Teaching Hospital several months ago and with one flimsy looking roundabout at the end, the roads are now practically abandoned. The road that runs past the Federal Government College Ogbomoso

is now characterized by craters everywhere; they never overlaid it with bitumen but put street lights that I believe have never worked for a day.

It is good that the highway from Ibadan to Oyo is a really good and smooth ride likewise the stretch from Ogbomoso to Ilorin. Why then did the Federal Government abandon the Oyo-Ogbomoso link leaving all and sundry with no option but to endanger their lives on a very narrow single carriageway with numerous moth-eaten patches and several dangerous bends and undulations? I cannot forget a really close shave while driving on that road last year. I practically froze as a tanker swerved just in time to complete its overtaking of another tanker; I could not move forward neither could I move to my right because my vehicle could have tumbled.

Ogbomoso.

The tankers and other articulated vehicles have no other route and the drivers are basically their own sheriffs and immune to the law of the land. Some state governments built “ultramodern” trailer parks but these remain unutilized by these men who prefer to park on the sides of the road long enough to obstruct traffic or cause accidents. I believe the constant parking of these vehicles contribute to the wear and tear our primitive roads endure on a daily basis. The regular friction between rubber and gravel and between steel and bitumen can only give rise to points of defect that will hardly get addressed by those who ought to get the job done.

We need to hold these government officials by the gonads at all levels so that we can help ourselves at least by limiting the hazards lurking around to take our lives. The elections are now over and some of these governors who have abandoned road expansion projects should be reminded to wake up the contractors who have been fully paid or fully pay those they owe. What is the point of looking forward to plying the Ibadan to Oyo and Ogbomoso to Ilorin highways when one’s heart could stop in one’s mouth on the Oyo-Ogbomoso road?

Washed away

An online report from July 5^th 2013 had the then Minister of Works Mike Onolememen declare at the commissioning of the Ibadan-Oyo dual carriageway that the Oyo-Ogbomoso portion of the Ibadan-Ilorin road was already under construction at a cost of 47.5billion naira. We need to remind those in charge now that that 43.25km of black road is overdue for commissioning. We should remind Governor Ajimobi to discard his blue suit from his US mission and get down to serious business with the roads in his state. Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara needs to be reminded that the road from University to Adewole appears unexpanded and unfinished.

I remember listening to the Governor of Lagos Akinwunmi  Ambode on a radio show in the build up to the general elections. One of the things he said he would focus on was Lagos roads. He spelt out how the local governments would address a certain number of roads every year till all the roads are covered during his tenure. These are the things we should remind these political juggernauts about and keep them on their toes instead of dwelling on 97% and 5% and who was not taking notes on Nigeria’s side when President Buhari met with Obama in the oval office. The roads to my church in Surulere are sorry and devoid of patience and places like Okota, Ejigbo and FESTAC are a no-go for me. The odds of me showing up for events in those areas are really slim except my wife is doing the persuading.

Angels do not lay asphalt and foreigners will not come to help us mine our bitumen stores without swindling us. The United States have an Interstate highway system which was birthed in 1916. General Dwight Eisenhower championed the manifestation of this system in 1956 and a few decades later those ideas became reality. The Germans have their Autobahn constructed with asphaltic concrete linking the entire nation. It is not enough to just approve billions on a yearly basis at executive council meetings for the same projects and not ensure such highways are completed and standardized. If it will take us using concrete and burn more rubber as long as the roads last longer then so be it.

It is high time we put an end to mediocre followership; let us make demands from the stewards we elected to office. Our highways ought not to be rollercoasters and mine fields; anybody who does not and cannot perform should not get reelected based on sentiments.