Highlighting the Deplorable State of Federal Roads in Ondo State
Decries the complete collapse of road infrastructure in Ondo State
from the South-West is only slightly better as there are large portions of potholes and craters there too.
It is therefore incumbent on me to place it on record that as far as road infrastructure in Ondo State is concerned, the much sought-after federal presence is still a mirage. It is almost non-existent.
This reeks of social injustice meted out by the Federal Government to a state that benefits the nation in terms of its vast human and mineral resources. It should sadden every right thinking individual that the 4th largest state-producer of oil in Nigeria has an almost inaccessible road network to the nation’s capital.
It stands to reason that criminals would capitalize on the poor state of these roads to carry out heinous and nefarious activities such as extortion, armed robbery and kidnapping. It is in fact easier to kidnap a person than to pick a snail on the roads.
Only recently, Chief Michael Ade-Ojo (Elizade), commendably had to use his personal resources to construct/repair some kilometres of roads in his hometown, Ilara Mokin, in Ondo State. However, how many of us can be like that? How many of us have such resources? Moreover, at what point does the citizen stop being a government unto himself? When one considers the fact that the citizen sources his own water, electricity, education, security and healthcare by himself, you are constrained to ask if he must provide the road he travels upon too!
I must therefore on behalf of the people of Ondo State and the commuters who regularly use those roads state the imperative of an urgent intervention by the federal government in the matter of their roads in Ondo State.
At this juncture, I must acknowledge the efforts of the governments of both Ondo and Ekiti states to repair some of the federal roads within their respective states in spite of the meagre resources at their disposal to ease the sufferings and hardships of commuters within their domain.
Not being unmindlful of the tier who bears the constitutional and fiscal responsibility of constructing, repairing and maintaining those roads, I wish to call on the Federal Government to fulfill its own obligation by ensuring that the refunds on the road repairs done by states are effected on time to the respective States.
This is expedient because one of the imperatives of economic growth is the availability of a good road infrastructure without which, it is doubtful that the country and the respective states will make any meaningful progress.