By Kingsley Adegboye

Against the backdrop of the worsening deplorable condition of Arepo road that leads to Journalists’ Estate Phase 1 and 2 and its neighboring communities in Obafemi/Owode Local Government Area, Ogun state, members of Journalists Estate Residents Development Association (JERDA) have called on Governor Ibikunle Amosun to come to their rescue.

Gov Ibikunle Amosun

The group, in a statement issued at the end of its monthly meeting lamented the deplorable condition of the only access road linking Arepo to the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway almost two years after the contract had been awarded.

Observing that the state government had mounted a billboard for the reconstruction of the road since two years without commensurate actions, the Meeting however urged the governor to go beyond mere mounting of bill boards to commence physical development of the area.

In the JERDA’s statement signed by its chairman, Mr. John Ajayi and Secretary, Mr. Jude Nwauzor lamented that “the only access road leading Arepo Community to the expressway, is not only dilapidated, but beyond palliative measures as such requires urgent government’s attention.”

The group said the state government should as a matter of urgency order contractor awarded the job to commence construction of the feeder road as promised by Amosun during his electioneering campaigns in the area.

The meeting which reviewed the growing insecurity in the area therefore called for immediate action from all tiers of government to guarantee peace and harmony in the community.

Registration figure

Maintaining that security should be beefed-up in the locality to stave-off possible security breaches in order to ward-off activities of miscreants in the area, the group added that this measure will also protect lives and properties of the residents of the community adjudged as second largest registration figure in the area during the last registration exercise in the state.

While urging the Federal Government to move quickly to protect NNPC pipelines within the community, the Meeting also enjoined state and local governments to address the rising waves of criminality in the area, noting that Arepo community is one of the fastest developing communities in the whole of the state, so much so, that it harbours Journalists’ Estate, which is the first of its kind in the whole of Africa. Stressing that “this is in addition to over 18 other residential estates existing in the community with enlightened members of the elites class, the Meeting however lauded the recent posting of the Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Isa Lawal to the area and efforts of his officers who now regularly patrol the long bridge between Berger and Arepo to ward-off criminals operating day and night on the bridge.

The group further urged the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), to continue its work on the long bridge by clearing bushes on the median of the expressway while tasking FERMA to extend the clearing to the left and right sides of the bridge, which harbour hoodlums that molest and rob unsuspecting motorists.

JERDA however noted with displeasure that, the state government cannot continue to pretend as if the community does not matter with its small population, which it once described as having insignificant electoral values.

It pointed out that government’s continued neglect of the community has compelled the Arepo Central Community Development Association (ACCDA) to embark on raising fifteen million naira through donations in carrying out palliatives on the road, as a self help that has not fully yielded requisite result.