By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta

Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun on Wednesday, lamented the non-readiness of the federal government to attend to the poor condition of the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta expressway despite his several appeals for its rehabilitation.

Abiodun, who said this while addressing residents and motorists in Sango Ota, while inspecting the quality and progress of work done on the road linking Joju with Sango – Idiroko road, noted that failure on the part of the federal government at giving his request on the expressway the attention it deserved was responsible for the delay in reconstructing the expressway.

While expressing displeasure over the poor condition of the expressway, the governor passionately appealed to residents and motorists plying the Ogun corridor of the expressway to further exercise patience with him, pending when his administration finds a permanent solution to the sufferings which people are experiencing on the expressway on daily basis.

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Abiodun assured the resident that he is already working towards making sure that the Honourable Minister of Works and Infrastructure, Raji Fasola himself comes down to see the poor condition of the Abeokuta – Ota – Lagos expressway so that he can see for himself.

” I pleaded with them to hand over the road to us for rehabilitation, but they refused and insisted that they would do it. You can also see the presence of Julius Berger Construction Company at the old Toll Gate axis of this expressway. But we told them to come and fix these failed portions in order to reduce these sufferings, but they wouldn’t listen”.

” I will bring the Honourable Minister of Works and Infrastructure down here so that he can physically see things for himself. If however, they still refused to do it, then, we will do it by ourselves. You can see that we are already reconstructing the Agbara – Igbesa Industrial highway, which is also a federal road. That one was even worse than this Abeokuta – Ota – Lagos expressway.

Abiodun said his administration is willing to reconstruct the Lagos-Sango-Abeokuta and Sango-Idiroko expressway, provided the federal government will honour his requests to adopt the roads for rehabilitation. He said he has made several efforts at speaking with the federal government over possible take over of the roads for reconstruction on which he said the federal government has not given the go-ahead.

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He disclosed that he and his counterpart in Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had at different times, engaged the federal government on the need to transfer the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway to them as part of the move to ensure that people do not suffer on the roads.

” The state of this road is pitiful, Governor Sanwo-Olu and I have engaged the federal government at different times, to transfer the road to us. We are not by any means not appreciative of the paucity of funds at the situation the federal government finds itself in, our people are suffering and as a state government, we can only do so much, we have intervened on several roads,” he said.

” I have asked the federal government to declare a special status for this state because we have more federal roads than any other state and we are suffering, not just from the environmental impact that the roads are causing us. Our people are suffering and I am in pain”.”There are several other roads within the Sango and Ota township that we intend to rehabilitate for the benefit of all of us and we will not renege”.

“Assuming the last administration had fixed all these roads prior till now, things wouldn’t have to be like these. Just bear with us”.

Vanguard News Nigeria