Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun has called for patience amid criticisms of his administration over the conditions of roads in the state.
The governor said this on Monday after an on-the-spot assessment of roads in Ifo Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
“I want to implore our people to be patient with us. We cannot reconstruct all the bad roads in three years,” the governor said.
“In fact, no administration can reconstruct all the roads in Ogun State, not even in 8 years.”
He said, “When I assumed office on the 29th of May, 2019, the deficit that we met on assumption of office was such that we began to wonder what the previous administration was doing.
“In some instances, they appear to have good intentions, they go to the roads, they demolished houses, roads that should not be more than a single carriageway, they turned them to dual carriageway By so doing, they removed all the asphalt that was there serving the people and abandoned these roads.
“We inherited quite a lot of these roads. Some of those roads are federal roads, and you know our people cannot differentiate between federal and state. They will geo-locate their pains where and when they are feeling it.”
‘Matching Order’
The governor, however, assured that his administration will ensure that road construction is evenly spread in the state.
“My pledge is that I have come here today to see things for myself. Two roads are considerably important to our people.
“First of all, the Denro-Ishashi-Akute road, I have given the contractor a matching order that the road must be completed in the next two weeks, asphalt and the bridge.
I want to assure you all that it is your time now. It is your right. You voted for us. I am a promise-keeping governor. I will not make empty promises. Now, within the next two weeks, maximum of three weeks, active construction will start on Alagbole-Ajuwon and Akute-Ajuwon roads.
“Today, here, we’ve reconstructed Olusegun Osoba-Toyin Street, Denro-Ishashi-Akute is under construction. We have so many other roads we’ve constructed here. But because there is so much deficit in the infrastructural development in this area, at times, it appears as if we are not reconstructing them as fast as they want us to.
“The Primary Health Care Centre here, I will reconstruct it. I have told Hon. Fola Salami and the Commissioner (health) to look for a land for me here because I will build a new one for you. I want to build a brand new Primary Health Care Centre that is befitting for Ajuwon-Alagbole-Akute.”
#DapoFixOgunRoads Trends
The governor’s comment followed a backlash from social media users over the state of roads in the South-West state. #DapoFixOgunRoads trended on X formerly called Twitter as netizens beamed the searchlight on roads in Ogun.
They shared footage of the poor conditions of roads with many showing broken-down vehicles, potholes, and flooded roads some of them without drainages.