Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, on Tuesday explained that the Ayede-Ogbese road was repaired by his administration to alleviate the suffering of the people.
Governor Akeredolu spoke while inspecting the rehabilitation work being done on the road at Ayede-Ogbese in Akure North Local Government Area.
He was accompanied to the site by the state Commissioner for Lands and Infrastructure, Engr. Raimi Aminu.
The Governor disclosed that hundreds of millions has been expended by the state government to fix some federal government roads.
He explained that the state had earlier carried out several intervention works on many Federal roads in the state despite the dwindling resources, without getting refunds from the Federal Government.
The Governor, who described the road as the link to the Northern part of the country from the South, urged the Federal Government to allocate more funds to the state to be able to carry out more developmental projects for the benefit of the people.
According to the Governor, the Ayede-Ogbese road which was constructed over 20 years ago required major maintenance including resurfacing.
He warned residents of Ogbese and traders to desist from dumping refuse in the gutters in order not to block the drainage system.
The Governor also listed some of the Federal Government roads rehabilitated by the state without getting refunds to include the road affected by a blast at Ilu-Abo in 2020, Ifon and Ipele junctions, among others.
“We can say it that the Federal Government has bitten off more than it can chew. Often times, most of the federal roads get spoilt. Even the Federal Road Maintenance Agency set up by government is not able to rise up to the occasion on time.
“But whether we like it or not, these roads are being used by our people, and we have no option than to look for money, in spite of lack of finances, to carry out this sort of intervention.
“A numbers of time we have this type of intervention we don’t get refunds. We have done this in few places like when we had the big blast last time at Ilu-Abo, along this road, which cost us hundreds of millions. We did it but till tomorrow, Federal Government has not refunded us.
“We are not too sure whether they will pay for this one we are doing again. We just have to do it for the sake of our people. Those who use this road are not just only our people, this is the link to the North from the South. It is very unfortunate, and I believe the Federal Government should come into this,” the Governor stressed.
Until the state government intervention, motorists, passengers and other road users were groaning over the deplorable state of the Ayede-Ogbese road as it had become a death trap, causing heavy traffic jam.