Oyo govt, attend to these communities

Residents of Owodunni, Olorun Adaba, Safunku, Cele, Elesin, Kuola and Apata communities in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State salute our governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, for his efforts in developing the state by distributing the dividends of democracy to rural and urban areas in the state.

However, residents of these communities are suffering because of the bridge that collapsed during the 2011 flood disaster. To date, only the Odo Ona river links about six communities together. There were previously four bridges linking the communities, but three collapsed during the August 2011 flood disaster.

Subsequently, many letters were written to the Oyo State Ministry of Environment, appealing for intervention, but all the efforts were to no avail.

Interestingly, on our own, we are doing construction work on the bridges to make them useful for pedestrians. We are a very large population but we get very little attention from the authorities.

Unfortunately, another downpour occurred on Sunday, July 9, which led to the collapse of the remaining bridge. Meanwhile, the road leading to that collapsed bridge serves as the only link to the Akala highway, an area in which many eminent citizens of the state are residing.

Apart from the collapsed bridges, our roads are not motorable because the drainage system that is supposed to control the flood is in a bad condition.

We are calling the attention of the Oyo State government to the collapsed bridges at Kuola and Owodunni communities in Apata, Ibadan. It should urgently come to our rescue.

Many motorists cannot drive their vehicles to their homes due to the collapsed bridges.

Sadly, men of the underworld are using the bad condition of the road to rob passers-by and residents.

We appeal to the governor to extend the dividends of democracy to our area.

Adebolu Olusanya

Ibadan, Oyo State