The lawmaker representing Edo Central Senatorial District, Monday Okpebholo, has asked the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on roads in the senatorial zone.
In a statement, the All Progressives Congress lawmaker noted that the people of Esan land, in Edo Central, are suffering untold hardships because of deplorable conditions of roads. He, therefore, urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene, especially at the Okene-Auchi-Ekpoma-Benin and Ewu-Uromi-Agbor highways, which pass through the heart of Esan land.
The roads, he said, had been awarded for reconstruction and rehabilitation, since 2015, but had been abandoned. The statement reads in part: “The senatorial district is gateway to the South East, South South, South West and North of the country. The deplorable condition of these highways have forced motorists to use the internal roads of communities in Ewu, Irrua, Uromi, Ubiaja, Igueben, Ogwa, Ekpoma and others.
“The pressure from heavy traffic has destroyed existing internal roads. There is also the bigger fear of outbreak of epidemic.” The senator complained that animals being conveyed in articulated trucks often get trapped in gridlock for days and, thereafter, die in transit. According to him, they get thrown out along the highways, alongside perishable goods.
