Residents of the Odo-Ogun Aderonmu community in Oyo State have appealed to the Federal Government to urgently repair a collapsed section of the Iseyin–Ado-Awaye–Abeokuta road that has been in a deplorable condition for over six years.
The vital transport corridor, which links about 11 local government areas across Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos States, has become a dangerous bottleneck where roughly 80 per cent of the road has been washed away.
A traditional leader in the community, Chief Teslim Oladimeji, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, said the road has been in a deplorable condition for over six years.
Oladimeji said that the community is making a passionate appeal to the federal government through relevant agencies and ministries to come to its aid.
The community head commended the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and other security agencies for their presence at the collapsed segment of the road, which he said had helped to prevent further accidents.
He, however, noted that the major challenge remains how motorists, who are not familiar with the terrain would manoeuvre their way without falling into the ditch created by the collapsed road.
Also, a youth leader in the community, Mr Suleiman Alaba, said that the road had shown signs of failure about six years ago before it finally collapsed.
Alaba said that the community had notified government of the impending collapse through the local government authority, stressing that the road belongs to the Federal Government.
“We are begging government to urgently come to our rescue on this road,”he pleaded.
He described the road as a death trap, explaining that certain portions along the road had completely broken down and the little portion currently undamaged cannot accommodate even two tricycles.
The youth leader recalled that a motorcyclist recently fell into the damaged bridge during a heavy downpour, which led to the loss of his life, while his motorcycle was swept away by the flood.
“We found his dead body and his bike after three days of searching along the river bank,”he said.
Similarly, the Unit Commander of FRSC, Iseyin Unit Command, Assistant Corps Commander Mayowa Odewo, urged drivers to obey safety directives from road safety officers stationed at the scene of the collapsed road.
Odewo disclosed that only about 20 per cent of the entire width of the road remained for both drivers and pedestrians to manage, as about 80 per cent had been cut away, making access to the other side extremely difficult.
He added that the road, which is always busy with trucks conveying farm produce to Ogun and Lagos states, needs urgent intervention as the damage has gone beyond what the communities can handle. (NAN)
Source: News Agency of Nigeria
