Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, has renewed his call for urgent Federal Government intervention over the deteriorating Ado-Ijan-Ilumoba-Ikole Road in Ekiti State.
Babalola said the road serves several communities and provides access to important institutions and facilities, making its poor condition a major concern.
In a statement titled, ‘An appeal to the FG to revisit the road leading to ABUAD’, issued on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti, he appealed to the government that “something must be done about this road, and the time is now.”
He identified some major establishments located along the route as ABUAD, ABUAD Multi-system Hospital, the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, the National Open University of Nigeria’s Ado Ekiti campus, the Federal Government-owned Silo and the Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport.
According to the elder statesman, years of neglect have left the road in a condition that makes transportation difficult.
“This all-important road has been neglected for several years, a development which has rendered it impassable.
“This compelled me to make several representations to the Federal Government and its agencies to fix the road. But it would appear that all my pleas were ignored.
“However, as part of its corporate social responsibility, our university, ABUAD, spent billions of naira for the repair and maintenance of the road and the old Ureje Bridge between 2010 and 2019 when the road was awarded to a local contractor for repairs,” he said.
Babalola said the situation became worse after contractors handling the rehabilitation allegedly failed to improve the route.
He explained that the bad road was also affecting university staff who reside outside the campus.
“Today, many of our lecturers living outside the campus cannot come to the university with their vehicles, a development which makes them report to work late. It is that bad,” he said.
The ABUAD founder said repeated appeals had been made to successive Federal and Ekiti State administrations over the poor state of roads in the state.
He recalled sending letters to several Presidents, Works and Transport Ministers, the Federal Road Maintenance Agency and Ekiti governors to draw attention to the problem.
Babalola also recalled that he wrote to former Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, on January 24, 2022, requesting permission for ABUAD to deploy its engineering expertise and resources to rehabilitate the road and construct a new bridge, with the Federal Government bearing the cost.
“Most regretfully, there was no acknowledgement or response to that letter/altruistic request.”
Babalola said ABUAD was scheduled to host an international programme in October with guests expected from the United States and Canada.
He expressed concern about the impression the condition of the road could create for the visitors.
“The question that readily comes to mind now is: Is the deplorable and impassable road what we want to showcase to the international community?
“Something must be done about this road, and the time is now, bearing in mind that ours is a university which has students from all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory and some foreign countries.”
