For regular commuters on the Omuaran-Obbo-Ille-Eruku-Egbe road—the sole federal route connecting Kogi State’s Yagba region to Kwara State and the South West—there is only one conclusion: the road is non-existent.

This critical federal route has completely deteriorated. Anyone who regularly travels the Omuaran-Obbo-Ille-Eruku-Egbe road will tell you the same thing: it is a road in name only. Yet, this crumbling federal route is the lone artery linking Kogi State’s Yagba area with Kwara State and the broader South West.

The portions between Obbo-Ille and Eruku are located in Kwara State. Following years of neglect, and indeferece of both federal and Kwara State governments, the road gradually methamorphosed into what it is today– a death trap.

The 143 kilometres stretch from Egbe, the boundary community in Kogi State, to Ilorin, Kwara State capital, which used to take two to three hours drive now takes seven to eight hours or an entire day, as the case may be.

Lately, the road is in a state emergency prompting community leaders to call for urgent intervention from the government and key stakeholders in Nigeria’s road ecosystem.

The teribly bad portions have been made worse by the rains, forcing drivers to use a detour through the forests.

Travelers from Yagba axis of Kogi State can no longer access neighbouring Kwara State and the south west, through that road.

For those who dare, they are randomly kidnapped, killed or raped by bandits who leverage the bad conditions of the road to torment travelers, resulting in loss of lives and crippling of commercial activities in that axis.

The pathetic case of Mr Mayowa Olumuyiwa, a commercial driver tells the story more. He watched as his vehicle, newly aquired on hire-purchase was set ablazed by bandits after he escaped being kidnapped by the whiskers. The fully loaded vehicle was transporting cashew products on the Egbe–Eruku Road when some gunmen emerged from inside the bushes and ordered the driver of the bus to stop.

Sensing that they were bandits, the driver manoeuvred the vehicle around the surging attackers, providing him and his assistant that moment of grace to jump out midway and fled into the bushes, abandoning the vehicle. The driver and the bus conductor trekked through the forest to Eruku where they reported the incident at the police station. When police officers arrived at the scene, the bandits, obviously angered by the escape of their prey, had set the vehicle ablazed. Olumuyiwa watched in disbelief as his bus and the cashew products went up in flames until completely burnt into ashes.

While the presence of a military Forward Operating Base in the intersection of Egbe (Kogi) /Eruku (Kwara) boundary communities, built the Senator representing Kogi West, Sunday Karimi has prevented further escalation of incidents of banditary and kidnapping in some area, gunmen have continued to attack and abduct travelers along that route including nine passengers travelling toward Ilorin in October 2025. In September of that year,  three police officers and two vigilantes were killed during an attack.

In a move to ensure that nolmacy is restored to the Omuaran-Obbo-Ille-Eruku-Egbe road, Senator Karimi has moved to address the situation.

Karimi, alerted by the prolonged surfering of the people and the public outcry, has taken the matter to the doorstep of cement manufacturing business owners in and around Kogi West, considered as prominent contributors to the degradation of the road infrastructure. Thousands of large commercial trucks used to transport raw limestone and finished cement, belonging to manufacturers such as Dangote, BUA and recently, Mangal Cement, ply the road on a daily basis worsening the situation.

With a view to confronting the seemingly intractable road problem head-on, the Senator, speaking during a chat with journalists on Sunday, disclosed that he had commenced discussions with the Works Minister, Dave umahi, owners of Mangal, Dangote and BUA cement industries for an immediate action to be taken on that road. Similarly, noting the surge of incidents of kidnapping in that axis occasioned by the bad condition of the road, the lawmaker said he is in talks with the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

He said: “Over the last three weeks, I have been following up with the Honourable Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi and other relevant officials in the Ministry, and the Controllers of Works for the Kwara and Kogi State on the condition of this road. I even spoke with the Honourable Minister today (Sunday) on the same subject matter. However, the major challenge, as with many other projects, is funding. Today, I also engaged the Managing Director of Mangal Industries Ltd, owners Mangal Cement factory, Engr. Fahad Dahiru Mangal on the possibility of getting them to carry out palliatives to ease movement on the worst spots of the road. In addition, I am putting in efforts to get Dangote and possibly BUA Cement to assist in alleviating the suffering of commuters particularly, on the road.
I am just as concerned as everyone who plies the road, and I will continue to put in more effort, lobby relevant stakeholders to ensure relief is brought to our people. I pray and hope that my efforts will yield positive results in the coming days”.

He added: “Something urgent needs to be done to fix that road. I don’t want to go into details of our discussions. All I can tell you is that the response is encouraging. Mangal gave me the assurance to look into it. I have also discussed with proxies in the office of the NSA, basically on how to improve security along that route”.

According to him, the management of Mangal disclosed that the company had made it a priority to commit N50m on a monthly basis to maintain access to roads within and outside Ilu–Hagba, the host community.

Despite not falling within his catchment, Senator Karimi’s intervention in the Obbo-Ille-Eruku road further poses unanswered questions about the perceived indifference on the part Kwara State government and representatives of Kwara South Senatorial District in the National Assembly to the plight of the road users.

Investigations show that while the entire Ilorin-Omu-Aran-Egbe-Kabba road remained immotorable for the past two decades amid contract awards not backed with funds in the budget, rehabilitation work by the federal Ministry of Works is currently progressing along the Ejiba–Isanlu stretch of the Kabba-Egbe-Ilorin Road within Kogi State, facilitated by Senator Sunday Karimi.

That phase of the on the rehabilitation work from Ejiba to Ayetoro-Gbede is a project of the federal Ministry of Works, handled by CGC, a Chinese construction company. The funding source is SUKUK VI.

Conversely, there has been no evidence of corresponding efforts in the Kwara axis. Observers are demanding to know from Kwara State officials why the federal government has not been notified regarding the severely degraded section of the Ilorin-Omu-Aran-Obbo-Ille-Eruku road.

The consequences of the long years of neglect is the avoidable total break down of the road infrastructure and the pains experienced by the users in that axis.