Travellers and other road users plying Ado-Ekiti-Ijan Road in the state capital were held up for several hours, yesterday, as members of staff and students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, as well as residents of Odo-Ado, staged a peaceful protest to call the attention of the Federal Government to the poor state of the road.
The Ado-Ekiti-Ijan Road is a Federal Government road linking federal, state and private institutions located along the axis, such as the Federal Polytechnic, Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), Ekiti Knowledge Zone, Air Force Base, Ekiti International Cargo Airport, among others.
The road is also a major route for travellers going to Abuja, Lagos and Ondo states, among others, but due to the state of the road, workers and motorists spend hours daily to go to work and return from work.
The protesters barricaded the road as early as 8.00 a.m., thus causing heavy traffic congestion, which held activities to a stand still for hours.
Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics, Sunday Akomolafe; Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Adebayo Daramola and Chairman, Non Academic Staff Union (NASU), Adebayo Abubakar, while addressing the protesters, said the protest became necessary after government turned deaf ears to their plea over the years regarding the road.
According to them, the road has become a death trap to motorists.
They said that the unions had, on several occasions, contributed personal income to repair the road but its condition was beyond patching and needed total reconstruction.
They, however, vowed to continue to barricade the road unless the Federal Government takes necessary action.
Meanwhile, some of the motorists and commuters, who spoke with The Guardian in the traffic, commended the polytechnic workers and other protesters for having the courage to protest against the bad road.
The motorists said that they had spent all their earnings to repair their vehicles as a result of the damages caused by the road.
