Owing to deterioration of the Iseyin-Oyo road, accompanied by daily protests by commercial vehicle owners against movement on the road, the Oyo State House of Assembly has summoned officials of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to its plenary next Thursday.
The resolve of the Assembly was drawn from a matter of urgent public importance moved by Honourable Dele Adeola of Iseyin/Itesiwaju on the deplorable state of the road and daily blockage of the road by disillusioned commercial vehicle operators, at Thursday’s plenary.
Officials of FERMA will be expected to answer questions on why it the federal government had allowed the 71 years old road assume an impassable state and whether there were immediate plans to fix the road.
Adeola, in his presentation, had noted that the consequences of the degradation of road included usual crashes, loss of manhours and hindrance of the flow of economic activities between Ibadan and Oke-Ogun zone of the state.
While calling on the federal government to take the fixing of the road as priority, Adeola urged Governor Seyi Makinde to also direct the state Road Transport Maintenance Agency to carry out palliative measures on the road.
“There have been protests by commercial vehicle operators on the Iseyin-Oyo Road every day from Monday till today over the deterioration of the road. Motorists, passengers are blocked from moving due to the protests. The road needs urgent attention.
“The executive should call on the federal government to fix the road to stop degradation. Governor Seyi Makinde should order the OYSTROMA to do palliative measures on the road,” Adeola said.
Speaking in the same vein, Honourable Kazeem Isiaka of Oyo East/West constituency had decried that the Oke-Ogun zone of the state was being disconnected from Ibadan zone as a result of the dilapidated federal road.
As a result of the disconnect, Isiaka noted that the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was being negatively affected.
He prayed that the three senators representing the state see to the inclusion of the Iseyin-Oyo road project in the 2020 budget.
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In his own comments, Minority leader, Honourable Asimiyu Alarape, had noted that the Odo-Ogun bridge on the road was too narrow, accommodating one car at a time, hence needed expansion.
Speaker of the Assembly, Honourable Adebo Ogundoyin prayed the federal government urgently releases funds to fix the road.
In a bid to regulate the activities of commercial motorcycles, the “Control of Commercial Motorcycles (Further Amendment) Bill, 2019, passed second reading stage.
Members, in their contributions, averred that the proposed law would bring about sanity to motorcyclists operations by restricting motorcyclists’ time of operations, make registration of motorcyclists mandatory, enable security agencies track crime associated with use of motorcycles.
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