Bad Lafenwa-Itele, Aiyetoro-Budo Roads: Oba, Residents, Users Cry Out Again
The sufferings of residents of Aiyetoro-Budo and Lafenwa-Itele areas in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State and the terrible state of the roads have become so audible to the deaf and visible to the blind but government seems to have totally abandoned the areas, pending when they will come to canvass for votes again.
For the umpteenth time, an SOS message has been sent out to Governor Dapo Abiodun. Oba Adewunmi Odutala, the Onibudo of Aiyetoro-budo, a border town of Ogun and Lagos States, has decried the poor state of road networks in Aiyetoro-Budo and Itele town, describing it as appalling with residents going through hell navigating communities in the area and work places.
The Oba, who made these assertions in a chat with newsmen, stated after commending the Governor: “As a border town to Lagos, our situation appears like a travesty to both residents and visitors alike, because as soon as you cross the bridge that serves as a border between us and Lagos, entering Aiyetoro, it will appear as if you are in an ancient place faraway from modernization. The moment the rains commence, the entire land of Aiyetoro and environs becomes unmotorable, Businesses suffer. Transportation are hiked and of course, investment is discouraged,” Oba Odutala lamented.
Speaking about his effort and those of the community to ameliorate the situation, Oba Odutala said, “Sometime last year, myself and a friend collaborated to rent a dredger to dredge the major drainage river separating us from Ayobo, the neighbouring town in Lagos, because experts have informed us that the river is blocked downstream, throwing up the threat of flooding in the case of a heavy rain. This is what propelled me to rent that dredger at the cost of over N8million. We could however not continue the dredging because of the exorbitant cost of renting dredgers.
“Each year we spend an average of N2-3million to grade the roads to make them manageable to navigate, in addition to grading we had to construct several culverts to connect roads and communities together. Last year alone, we constructed over seven culverts at an average cost of over N750,000 per culvert. Community dwellers believe the government must have been giving me money for executing these projects, which is far from the truth. I hereby appeal to our governor to come to our aid by undertaking the constructions of some key roads in Aiyetoro-Itele and Lafenwa axis,” Oba Odutala appeals.
The monarch also reiterated the need for the constitution to give the monarchial institution some powers to enable them contribute meaningfully to the fight against insecurity in their domain, even though according to him, there is relative peace in Aiyetoro, owing to the high level of engagement between him and various stakeholders and interests in his domain.
Residents of the area have accused most political office holders from Ado-Odo Ota area of playing the Ostrich by failing to push for the road construction. After yours sincerely raised the issue with Hon. Jimoh of the Federal House of Representatives via phone on the matter in July 2020, he has refused to pick calls again, even though according to him, he owns a house there and represents the constituency.
The bad state of roads in different parts of Ogun State is a paradox for a State that produced the current Vice President of the country, two former presidents, a former Speaker of Federal House of Representatives, amongst other distinguished personalities in the country.
This is another appeal to Governor Abiodun and his team to urgently do something about the terrible roads in these areas.
