Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Emmanuel Fayose, has expressed concern over the deplorable state of federal roads in the state, urging the federal government to urgently intervene.
Fayose lamented that the poor condition of the roads has caused untold hardship, exposing motorists and travellers to danger, distress, and prolonged suffering.
He spoke on Saturday at Iluomoba Ekiti, where he provided truckloads of gravel stones to fill up some dilapidated and impassable portions of the Ijan-Iluomoba axis of the Ado-Ijan-Ikare federal road to enable the transporters, who had been stranded for some days, to continue with their journeys to their destinations.
The PDP chieftain said, “I travelled in from Abuja yesterday. I decided to come by road to get a feeling of what the people are feeling. I discovered that the road is very bad. On getting to Iluomoba Ekiti, I realised that the road was very bad, and there were many trucks, buses and vehicles stuck on the road and they could not move.
“When I alighted from my car to view the portions, some of the drivers and other road users told me they had been sleeping there for five, six days to one week, sleeping on the floor with mosquitoes biting them. Some of them are on business trips carrying goods and products, some are even carrying perishable goods. They cannot deliver them, and they cannot reunite with their families.
“Moved by the ugly situation, I promised to fix the road so that it can be accessible for them, and it is the promise that I have come to fulfil today. We are not in government, but just to help the road users in our own little way. This is the road leading to Ekiti airport, and the facility has been under lock and key. The Federal Government should come to our aid.
“I am using this medium to appeal to President Bola Tinubu to look into our situation. In Ekiti State, we don’t have good roads; it is quite unfortunate. If you come through Abuja, as you can see, this road is very bad. If you come through Aramoko, it is the same thing, same story everywhere.
“Our people are suffering, there is hunger in the land, our youths are riding okada, no jobs, no electricity, no water, just like we are in the jungle, yet we have allocations every month. The state government is insensitive to the plight of the people. This is really unacceptable”, he said.
Speaking further, he added, “The state government can do some palliative works on this road (Ado – Ijan – Ikare Road) and other ones because our people are the ones using these deplorable roads, and they are the ones who are experiencing the sufferings and feeling the pains.”
A Kaduna-bound truck driver, Abdullahi Kamilu, who said his vehicle had been on the portion for an upward of four days, said, “The Federal Government should assist in fixing this road. One sachet of water here is N100. A plate of rice without meat is N1,000. With meat is N2,000. We thank Emmanuel Fayose for coming to our rescue.”
Also, another stranded truck driver heading to Abuja, Taiwo Ishola, said, “It is not easy to remain in one spot for days. I am supposed to have gotten to Abuja and returned to Lagos. We need good roads. We thank Emmanuel Fayose for bailing us out. He used his personal resources to buy these truckloads of stones to fill up these bad portions, may God bless him.”
