*Edo govt-FG trade blames, as motorists, others groan, plead for urgent action 

By Ozioruva Aliu

Edo Stare has, in recent time,continued to feature regularly in the news for the good and the bad as well as the beautiful and the ugly. Among the bad and ugly features  that make the state a news item is  the deporable condition of federal roads in the state, including the capital, Benin City.  

Indeed, all entry points of federal roads into Benin City are presently in terrible shape, and this has caused untold hardship to road users, including motorists, passengers and  and business owners.

The story is not different on the bypass that connects the Sapele Road end of the state capital, linking Upper Sokonba, Agbor Road, and Benin-Auchi Road, terminating at the Benin-Lagos Expressway.

Entering Benin from the Lagos-Benin Expressway, the Ovia bridge, which has recorded many accidents and loss of lives, signposts the dilapidated state of the road from that axis into the state capital.

From Akure, Ondo State, into Benin City, that stretch of road is filled with potholes. From Sobe, Agbanikaka, Owan, and Odiguetwe into the city, and from Asaba in Delta State, the roads become very bad from Ighoneki all the way to the by-pass and then into the city. The roads are mostly punctuated by craters-like gullies, and large portions of these undulating roads are marked by worn tar surfaces that frequently cause inexperienced drivers, especially those driving vehicles with bad tyres, to swerve dangerously off the road into nearby ditches.

The Benin-Auchi-Okenne-Lokoja Highway is worst hit as the bad portions begin from Urokhosa near Benin City all the way to Ewu, where there is respite of less than five kilometres into Agbede. But from Agbede to Auchi, the bad portions are evident on the road; then from Okpella to Okene in Kogi State, the story is not different.

The contract for the reconstruction of the road was awarded in 2013 under President Goodluck Jonathan, with Mike Onolememen from Edo State as Minister of Works.Going out of Benin to Sapele and Warri or coming from that axis to Benin is an eyesore. The most affected roads along this axis are after Adesuwa Junction within Benin City, then Peanut Junction, RCC, and the bypass.

From the bypass, Ologbo is a nightmare to road users, and that continues into Delta State. The road is so bad that  a 50-minute to one hour drive from Benin to Warri now takes not less than four hours; and if it rains, it would be more than that.The bad state of federal roads in Benin City and other parts of the state has also continued to put a lot of pressure on adjourning roads. Many of them are state roads that are fast depreciating due to frequent use by heavy-duty vehicles whose weights or carrying capacities are not suited for these roads, and many of them have become dilapidated as a result.

There have been several protests by residents in some areas where  these roads are located, like Igarra in Akoko-Edo local government, especially with regards to the state of the federal road that leads from Auchi to Ibillo and Lampese into Kogi State, and the other from Ibillo into Ondo State. There have also been protests in Uromi, Ekpoma, and Sapele Road, but the relevant governments, both at the state and federal levels, have carried on as if all is well.

Impact on economic life

The poor state of the roads has negatively impacted the lives of people and small businesses, and many have packed up. Petty traders who have shops along the road have given up on the business, as are vulcanisers, iron benders, mechanics and others, as they all have relocated from the areas where the roads pass through.

Stakeholders, others, react

Pastor Monday Omo-Osagiede is the Secretary of Sapele Road Bypass Axis Stakeholders that have been organising protests in that axis, and he said they would go back to the road after a promise by the Federal Government to commence work failed.

He said: “The situation of the road remains terrible; we are a group of landlords and landladies within the area. We have led protests on the road, and we are planning one now, it is going to be a major one. The reason we are planning this new protest is because schools will resume at any time and people can’t move around; we live with palpable fears.

“The condition of the road is worsening by the day, and because it is a Trunk A road, heavy-duty trucks are always plying it, much more than private, small vehicles. Recently, a truck carrying gas fell during the heavy rain at the Rock of Ages Christian Church, with everybody around there scampering for safety. We were called, and we had to call in the FRSC fire service officials and others. It was days later that they were able to remove the gas truck. It blocked the whole road, and people could not use it because of fear of possible fire disaster.

“We cannot continue like this. Now when it rains on Sapele Road, transport operators who could dare the muddy road usually hike their fare and would not accept N500; the fare before now was N300, but because of the fuel hike, it is now N500; but once it rains, it is N1,500 from Ring Road to the bypass, and with the economic hardship, there’s no way we can continue to take this.

“As at the last protest, we got assurance that the road has been awarded by the Federal Government because the stateContinues on page 23Raging storm over failed federal roads in EdoContinues from page 22government has told us point-blank that it is not going to do anything on Sapele Road no matter what we do. We had a serious meeting with the state governor on this, and he said it was not his road.

“We had interaction with the Zonal Controller, the Federal Ministry of Works, Mr. Babatunde Hassan, the State Director of the DSS, and the Commissioner of Police, who told us that a contract for the repair of the road had been awarded.

“And after two days or so, they brought the document showing that the contract has been awarded and that we should leave the road for the construction to commence; but till now, we have not heard from them.

“We heard that the cost of the road was to be paid by the NPDC based on the Federal Government’s task credit scheme. We had a meeting with the NPDC MD who said he was waiting for instructions on how to pay.“It is like the only language government understands is protest; so we have resolved to go back to the streets.

“We have become regular visitors at the mechanics. There’s no day or week that we don’t visit the mechanic; otherwise, we can’t use the road. For example, if I have two cars and one is with the mechanic, now while I am using the other one, when I go to pick the other one, I will drop this one there.

“People are leaving the area because of the condition of the road; they are leaving in droves. They are packing out, but those of us who are from here, who live here, who built our houses here, we can’t leave. If I were a tenant, I would have long gone. I have to give my tenants some palliatives for them to stay, and I have to reduce their rent because of what we are all passing through while staying here. If you are in town and it is raining, you are in trouble, and if you are at home and it starts raining, you can’t go out again. When it is dry season, everyone will think it is okay; so we have resolved that we are going to protest now that it is raining.”

At the Agbor Road axis of Benin Asaba Road before the bypass, the dilapidation begins from Queen Ede Area.

At the bypass, a middle-aged man who refused to mention his name said: “One is just tired of the kind of country and government that we have. I am a traditional man, which is why I don’t want to mention my name, but the government and those in government are not trying. Do you know the owner of a filling station around here was doing palliative care?

“The next thing he was asked to stop; he was told he had no right to fix a road belonging to the government.”

A driver in Ekpoma, along the Benin-Auchi-Okenne-Lokoja Road, who gave his name as Anthony Isesele, said the situation is unbearable as kidnappers and other criminal-minded people now take advantage of the bad road to kidnap unsuspecting commuters. He also said the cost of maintaining their vehicles has become a burden.

Hear him: “Edo State is a transit state that connects the South-West to the South-East, as well as the South to the North. 

“The government of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, we were told, spent about N16 billion to rehabilitate Federal Government roads in Edo State. Oshiomhole knows that the ultimate beneficiaries of the so-called Federal Government roads are the Edo people, who also bear the pain of the horrible and nightmarish state of the roads in Edo, both federal and state.

“Obaseki was reimbursed the N16 billion some months ago, and he is telling us that we should bear with the Edo State Government and that the roads belong to the Federal Government.

“Has Obaseki fixed the state roads? Just go to the communities in Edo State and see the kind of roads that are there. I am coming from Auchi now. Take your time and go to the villages in the three senatorial zones and see for yourself. Are you not a journalist? And in any case, why is the Edo State Government collecting taxes from vehicles plying these federal roads? The situation is unbearable, as kidnappers and other criminal-minded people take advantage of the state of the road to kidnap unsuspecting commuters. Again, the cost of maintaining our vehicles has become a burden.

“Also, Agnes Moses, a trader in Ekpoma,Edo State, said they were surprised to see the screaming billboards requesting everyone to “bear with the Edo State Government” over the deplorable state of the roads. State government’s reactionIndeed, in the last few days, giant billboards have surfaced in strategic places where Federal Government roads pass, and the state government is begging people of the state to bear with it.

To buttress this position, Governor Godwin Obaseki, while on a visit to the Edo State Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, said the conflicting Federal Government’s position on federal roads in states has made it impossible for his administration to intervene in fixing dilapidated federal roads across the state.

He said: “The position and location of Edo, particularly Benin City, which has been a blessing, is now becoming a curse. A blessing because we are very centrally located in Nigeria, and we are one state where all major federal trunks pass through. We are a transport hub, so you have the dual carriage coming from the West, one coming from the East, one coming from the South-South, and one is supposed to be going to the North. And a federal policy relating to its roads is very confusing. In the past, we could as a state rehabilitate a road and give the Federal Government the bill for refund. At one point, they said states could apply to take over those roads, but I have yet to see one state that they have given a federal road to.

“The Auchi-Ibillo Road was so bad that some of our contractors couldn’t go to their quarry site. We appealed to the Federal Government to do palliative work on that road, but they refused, saying the road is under contract.

“If I want to do the same to Benin-Sapele Road, I am not allowed to because first it is not our road, and secondly, the Federal Government said it has already given it out to a contractor, so I cannot go and do anything on that road; so we are in a very difficult situation in Edo. It is like our hands and our legs are tied, and they say we should run because the only government people know is their state government.

“I am not here to criticise the Federal Government, but I am here to say that we are all Nigerians, and it is only fair and proper that the Federal Government that has 52 per cent of our revenue allocation should treat Nigerians as human beings and that they all come from this country. You don’t have to vote for a Federal Government for the government to care about you, but it is like there is nobody to talk to. Nobody cares about us in Abuja.”

APC replies to Obaseki

Miffed by the position of the governor, the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, queried the governor about what he did with the refunds made to the state on roads rehabilitated by the administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat of the party, the state chairman of the APC, Col. David Imuse (retd), also accused Obaseki of abandoning the Benin Water Storm project, which he said has contributed to the flooding in the state capital, as he accused him of not prioritising the issue of roads “unlike his predecessor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who worked on all the federal roads within Benin City to make life comfortable for the people”.

He did not stop there: “You are aware that over N16 billion was refunded to the state under the watch of Obaseki for the federal roads fixed by his predecessor in office, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, during his tenure as governor.

“In addition to these, Governor Obaseki has shown a disturbing pattern of demolishing public and private properties, including but not limited to the Central Hospital, whose land he allocated to his friends to build a museum that will not see the light of day. Instead of prioritising crucial infrastructural developments, Mr. Obaseki has chosen to build supermarkets all over the state, which are over 45% owned by him and his cronies.

“The statement made by the Edo State government, accusing the Federal Government of neglecting its responsibilities, is a clear attempt to divert attention from these failures and mismanagement.

“It is disheartening to see such petty politics being played when the lives and safety of innocent Edo citizens, albeit Nigerians, are at stake.”