By Our Correspondent
Senate at its plenary on Wednesday has urged the Federal Government to urgently direct relevant authorities to complete rehabilitation of the old Ogbomoso-Oyo road to forestall further negative occurrences on the road.
This followed adoption of a motion on “urgent call to Federal Government to complete rehabilitation of Ogbomoso-Oyo trunk A road and complete reconstruction of new Ogbomoso expressway sponsored by Sen. Buhari Abdulfatai (Oyo North).
Abdulfatai in the motion said that in the last one month, the people of Ogbomoso have been plunged into an unprecedented crisis, occasioned by a tragic petrol tankers accident.
According to him, the accident had resulted in traffic gridlock, rendered some inhabitants of the area homeless, paralysed economic activities and claimed some innocent lives.
Abdulfatai said the situation had been further worsened by the diversion of commuters to old Ogbomoso-Oyo road, which is a federal road, due to reconstruction of the new Ogbomoso-Oyo federal road.
According to him, the construction of the road has been ongoing since 2007.
Abdulfatai said the federal government embarked on the reconstruction of the road by contracting different portions of the road to different contractors for quick completion.
He said while other portions had been completed, the Ogbomoso-Oyo road was yet to be completed that the contractor handling that portion has left the site.
He said it was worrisome that the old Ogbomoso-Oyo federal road, which the commuters have diverted to temporarily is currently undergoing rehabilitation due to the high volume of trucks, plying it since 2020.
He was worried that whilst the rehabilitation is aimed at improving the infrastructure, the continuous usage of this temporary diversion over time, has unfortunately led to the destruction of most part of the Ogbomoso metropolitan roads, leaving the people trapped and in chaos.
“Further worried that this road, which is less than 500 meters long, has become a death trap, responsible for numerous accidents in recent times.
“Over ten accidents have occurred within just few days, leading to loss of lives, injuries, and devastating impacts on businesses, whereby perishable goods from the north have been ruined, and shipments from ports and companies, amounting to millions of naira, left stranded”.
He expressed concerned that the non-completion of the few kilometers road, has been a major challenge to Ogbomoso people and Nigerians at large.
He said given the transit role of the road ,connecting people from North to South, there is need for urgent action to be taken to avert further devastation.
Senate further mandated its Committee on Works to invite the Minister of Works with a view to unraveling circumstance that led to abandonment of the Ogbomoso-Oyo Federal Road project by the contractor.
