Onimesi Renews Call On FG To Dualise Ado-Imesi-Ikare Road
The Onimesi of Imesi in Gboyin Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Oba Festus Olatunji Olatunde, has renewed the call on the Federal Government to dualise the Ado-Iluomoba-Agbado-Imesi-Ikare Federal Road in order to save lives.
The Ekiti traditional ruler made the fresh appeal in the wake of the accident, yesterday (Tuesday), which claimed the lives of seven people and leaving several others severely injured.
Reports have it that the road accident involved a luxury bus and a Toyota Hiace bus along the Iluomoba-Aisegba Road in Gboyin Local Government Area at about 6am, on Tuesday.
Some of the passengers and the driver of the Toyota Hiace bus reportedly died in the head-on collision between the two vehicles, while those in the luxury bus sustained varying degrees of injuries and were taken to the Emergency Unit of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti.
Eye-witness account had it that the accident was caused by speeding, just as it was disclosed that the luxury bus was traveling from Abuja to Lagos, while the Toyota Hiace bus was coming from Kano and probably heading to Abuja.
Oba Olatunde, in a statement made available to Newscoven.ng, said the latest accident on the Aisegba-Iluomoba Road and which claimed many lives is a clarion call for the dualisation of the Ado-Iluomoba-Agbado-Imesi-Ikare Federal Road.
The traditional ruler recalled that the road had been recommended for dualisation over 10 years ago, as contained in a proposal by the Ekiti State government to the Federal Ministry of Works, dated 2009.
“Rather than abide by the 2011 FERMA periodic maintenance report on that road portion, a full implementation of an Ekiti State full dualisation proposal to the Federal Ministry of Works, dated 2009, should be revisited immediately to prevent further loss of lives,” he said.
Going down memory lane, Oba Olatunde said: “The Ado-Iluomoba-Agbado-Imesi-Ikare Road was built, preparatory to the Nigerian Independence, by Nigersol Construction Company in 1959.
“Subsequent maintenance by the Ekiti State government, though commendable, has failed to reduce the current volume of traffic on that aged route.
“That road has been identified by commercial drivers plying the North and South-East as one of the best maintained and shortest route between Abuja and now Edo Delta and Lagos State, the commercial nerve centre of the country.
“It is therefore heavily trafficked day and night in excess of its capacity and there has been several similar accidents involving the popular minivan called Toyota Sienna and the agrarian local populace along that route,” he said.
The Onimesi of Imesi further said the situation of the road has been worsened due to the abandonment of the alternative Akungba-Owo-Akure Route in the wake of unchecked kidnapping along that axis.
He therefore called on the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Works to reopen the 2009 budgetary provision for the dualisation of the road to prevent further loss of lives.
“The Federal Ministry of Works should reopen the 2009 budgetary provision for the dualisation of the route to save the lives of the agrarian communities of Ijan/Iluomoba/Aisegba/Agbado/Imesi in Ekiti State, up to Ikare in Ondo State.
“The road which hosts the fastest growing private institution like Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) and The Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, have no wherewithal to support the type of luxury bus which caused the tragic accident of Tuesday, killing several people.
“Infact a discrete team of road engineers approached me, as a traditional ruler who has his domain on the route, to cry out on the situation of this road,” he added.
The Onimesi of Imesi, Oba Olatunde, however, commiserated with the families of the dead and wish the injured ones quick recovery, just as he expressed optimism that the Federal Goverment would harken to the renewed call for the dualisation of the road.
