On Oyo/Ogbomoso road

THE coming together of diverse groups of people at Takie Square, Ogbomoso, as early as 7.00am on Wednesday, August 1, 2018, to protest the noncompletion of the work on Ogbomoso-Oyo Expressway, shows that when people are pushed to the wall, they could fight back. Although, the protest was non-violent, it is a signal to the government that people are fed up with the insensitivity to the plight of the road users.

The road was initiated by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government in 2001. The two other sections of the expressway, have been commissioned more than 10 years ago, while the Oyo-Ogbomoso section has been abandoned for long despite the appropriation of billions of naira for the work by the Federal Government and empty promises by politicians over the construction work. The non-completion of the expressway has led to the death of hundreds of people and loss of properties. It kills more people than HIV/AIDS or any other diseases in this community.

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Statistics at our disposal indicate that an average of 15 persons die on the road per week when this is multiplied by fifty two weeks that makes a year, it indicates that an average of 780 persons is lost annually on this road. When this is multiplied by 9 years since Ogbomoso/Oyo section of the road was awarded, it shows that an average of 7,000 person have lost their lives on Ogbomoso-Oyo Road. This is alarming and calls for urgent completion of the express road under construction. Even yesterday some commuters lost their lives around Oolo on Oyo road. These have been a recurring decimal that must not be allowed to recur. Accidental deaths on the road have drastically cut short the life expectancy of persons living in this part f Nigeria”.

The rally, which was peaceful in nature was addressed by all sections of the community and all the speakers appealed to the government to expedite action on the road so as to stop untimely death and has the backing of all traditional rulers in the area.

The import of the peaceful rally by Ogbomoso community is that it is unprecedented in the annals of the town when people abandoned their personal businesses and concerns and rally for the good of the nation. Not even the political rally where people are induced has witnessed the population at the rally. My position is that lack of unity among the people has precluded revolution in Nigeria.

I advise the government to listen to the voice of the people and fix Ogbomoso-Oyo Road with urgency it deserves and other death traps called roads all over Nigeria.

• Adewuyi Adegbite

Ayekooto05@gmail.com