Oke-Afa residents lament bad roads, call on Gov. Abiodun to fulfill his promise
CHIGOZIE AMADI
Residents of Oke-Afa Area Community Development Community (CDC) Magboro, Obafemi-Owode local government area of Ogun State, have lamented the hardship and suffering they bear due to the deplorable state of the roads in the area, thereby calling on the state governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, to keep the promise he made to them over one year ago.
In a statement released by the Oke-Afa Area Community Development Committee and signed by its chairman and secretary, Hon. Shobowale Sunday and Popoola Kolawole, respectively, the C.D.C. says people living in Oke-Afa, Ilupeju, Olowofela, Kajola, and Magboro in the Obafemi-Owode local government area of the state have suffered loss of property, vehicular damage, and dehumanizing conditions over the last fifteen years as a result of the deplorable condition and massive flooding of the access road to the community.
The statement also reads that despite over 100.000 residents and over 40 Community Development Associations (CDAs) that make up the Oke-Afa Community Development Committee, the area only has a single road that links the entire community to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which is a nightmare, especially during the rainy season. Children are said to be unable to go to school for fear of being drowned, while adults either wade their way through the flood or make use of canoes. The community says it makes an effort annually to make the road motorable, but the self-help can only guarantee grading and partial filling of the portholes, which return to bad condition after a while. The situation is said to have been on for over 15 years and that it became worse after the diversion of water from Lagos-Ibadan Expressway during the re-construction of the Expressway, precisely at the Mountain of Fire and Miracle (MFM) axis.
Meanwhile, calling on the governor to come to their rescue, the community recalled a promise made to them by the governor to extend the presence of the government to the area over one year ago, which is yet to be kept.
“Apart from the general need to extend government presence and infrastructural development to the community, it is pertinent to state that, during the last electioneering campaign, the Executive Governor, by a letter dated 7th March 2023 (attached), promised to address the plight of the community by constructing the road if his re-election bid was supported by the community and he was re-elected for a 2nd term. This promise was wholly embraced, and the community fulfilled its part of the social contract.”
However, the community states its immediate demands to the Ogun State government, and these include the construction of a standard road into the community from the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to Kajola as well as the construction of a standard bridge across the canal to contain the volume of the flood that is diverted from the expressway and save the residents from hardship they have been subjected to for years.
