Residents and property owners at Pakuro, Ijere-Worugundu, Magbon, Tolotolo and other surrounding communities in Obafemi-Owode Local Council have raised concerns over the poor state of the only access route to their communities.
The road, which connects Magbon River, a renowned sand excavation site passing through eight communities to the Deeper Life camp end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, has over the years become a nightmare for residents.
Some of the residents, who spoke to The Guardian are bewildered that Governor Dapo Abiodun allowed the road to remain in such a deplorable state in spite of its economic benefits to Ogun State and neighbouring Lagos State.
Apart from several communal efforts, which are often not well supervised, there is no single presence of governance on the road, despite the large volume of vehicular movement, especially tippers and heavy-duty vehicles, which ply the road to the excavation site at Magbon.
Last year, the ugly state of the road forced the Community Development Associations (CDAs) to task every house in the area N1,000 each for the digging of drains and sand filling of the road.
However, the efforts quickly gave way owing to poor coordination, large volume of vehicles going to the excavation site and the texture of the soil. The resultant effect was lamentations and regrets, as residents feel abandoned.
A resident, who was so fumed about the situation and constant harassment by revenue agents of Obafemi-Owode Local Council, over lock up shop payment, lamented the justification of the council to collect such revenue.
Another resident, Michael Oteh, said many people have abandoned their homes because of the difficulties of commuting on the road.
According to him, the only way residents commute was through commercial motorcycles, who capitalise on the deplorable state of the road to charge exorbitant fares, while school children often fall into the mud on their way to school.
He said: “My children, whose school bus could no longer ply the road sustained grievous injuries when the commercial motorcyclist took them to school, while attempting to maneuver through the mud.
“With schools reopening soon, I don’t know what to do. I am calling on our dear governor to come to our aid.”
Also, sharing her grief was a mother of three, popularly known as Mummy Lola, whose vehicle broke down inside the muddy water recently at Iroko, a perennial bad spot along the road.
According to her, there are three spots that constitute nightmares for residents and motorists because many school children and adults have seen their uniform and office clothes drenched in the mud as commercial motorcyclists wade through the messy muddy water.
Lamenting that the governor has refused to fulfill his election promise when he visited some of the communities during the electioneering campaigns, Mummy Lola said the governor should take another visit to see things for himself.
“My brother, I don’t understand any more, the governor has not come back to witness our pains. Our vehicles can no longer wade through the muddy water. The Okada riders are also hesitant to ply the route even for an exorbitant fee. Only the brave ones dare it at a higher cost.
“Whenever I risk going out with my vehicle, both the car shaft and the ball joints will get damaged. I have on several occasions visited the mechanic to fix this. We cannot continue this way; many residents have relocated owing to this problem and lack of other social amenities.
“We had hoped that this year would be better after the governor visited and promised us so many projects for this community, but that is not the case because the rains are just starting and we don’t know what will happen as the situation is degenerating,” she added.
Also, a tipper driver, Daniel Mordi, who said they are made to pay about N1,000 per trip, lamented the high cost of maintaining their vehicles because of the appalling state of the road.
According to him, “It is disheartening that residents often accuse the tipper drivers for damaging the road.
“They are, however, ignorant of the fact that we are paying heavily to maintain the road.”
Chairman, Ajumoni Community Development Committee (CDC), Ijere, Owolabi Jimoh, said the communities spend not less than N3 million to rehabilitate the roads after the rainy season.
He said the CDC comprises about 35 Community Development Associations (CDAs).
“From Ijere to Magbon, we are having issues on roads. Every year, we spend not less than N3 million to rehabilitate the roads after the rainy season and have been calling on the government to intervene.
“Most of the occupants cannot come in when it rains and Okada charges N1000 from Lotto to Torotoro or Kara, a journey that is supposed not to be more than N200 or N300. We are calling on the Local Council, the state and the House of Assembly to come to our aid.
“I believe that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry knows about this road because they are collecting money from those fetching sand from the pit in Magbon and its environs.
“Every year, we charge each house N1,000 to rehabilitate the road. The situation we are having on the ground is that the sand texture here is plaster.”
So, we need a permanent solution. We have made efforts to construct drainage on both sides, but because of the nature of the plaster, we need more drainage on both sides of the road,” he said.
At press time, chairman of Obafemi-Owode Local Council, Ogunsola Adesina Lanre, did not pick his calls nor respond to messages sent to his telephone.
