Ayodele Olalere
Residents of over 20 communities along Atan-Ado-Ikoga road in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government and the Ogun West Senatorial District in Ogun State, have expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu and Minister of Works, David Umahi over the recently awarded N37 Billion reconstruction of Atan-Alapoti-Ado- Odo-Ikoga road which will pass through the stretch of the communities.
The communities’ stakeholders also expressed gratitude to the Personal Assistant on Special Duties to the President, Kamorudeen Yusuf, who through his relentless efforts brought to the attention of the government, the deplorable condition of the road.
Besides Yusuf, who is the arrow facilitator of the constriction project, there are other public and elected officers from the zone, whose input to the road construction award cannot be underestimated.
The road which, covers over 16 kilometres is to be reconstructed at the cost of over N37billion, has been in a deplorable state for over three decades and which abandonment by previous administration has seriously affected the quality of life of the people, their economy and as well depleted their value over the years.
The deplorable state of the road has also affected the agricultural revolution along the axis due to the fact that agricultural products being produced in the area cannot easily be transported to urban areas due to the bad state of the road.
In spite of economic advantages in terms of investment, major investors have either left or refused to even come to the areas owing to the deplorable state of the road.
The 20 communities to benefit are Atan, Ajegunle, Olorunleke, Alapoti, Onisaba, Idobarun, Aladiye, Idooleyin Idoofe, Ijigbo, Yidi, Methodist, Oja Agunloye, Eleja, Oja Ale, Ojupa ,Oke padre, Ileji, Ayede, Obakobe, Ikoga ile, and Bandu.
The road is among others that were recently approved by the Federal Executive Council across the country, which in all ran to the tune of N1.8trillion spanning different locations nationwide.
A market woman in Ado-Odo, Iya Ola, while reacting to the news of the reconstruction of the road said:
“The puerile state of Atan-Alapoti-Ado- Odo-Ikoga, has not only crippled trade in Ado, over the years but it has also been difficult to transport our goods inside and outside Ado. It used to take several hours to travel on the road especially when moving large quantities of goods, especially food items.”
She commended President Tinubu for approving the road contract and thanked the Minister and Alhaji Kamor Yusuf in particular.
Also expressing gratitude, a community leader in Ikoga, Chief Hunsu, said;
“We least expected the government of President Tinubu to attend to the road as early as he does because all the past governments totally forgot us.
I recall when we expressed our plight to Alhaji Kamor Yusuf of the state of the road and he promised us something would be done. We least expected it to be this early.”
A resident of Alapoti, Mr Adebayo said he has lived all his life in the last 47 years within the axis saying that “the condition of the road has brought untold hardship to the people.
“This road from Atan to Alapoti deteriorates every year making movement very difficult. Atan to Alapoti used to be less than 20 minutes and it’s a direct road but now, we spend hours on the same road.”
