Residents of Wire and Cable/Ita Faaji/Oganla/Agbofieti in Ido Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State were in agonies, tears and pains as heavy downpour washed away the road linking the community.
Motorists and commuters were stranded as they could not find their way to their various homes, following the heavy rainfall, which started at about 5:30pm on Friday did not stopped until about 11:30pm and which caused heavy damages on the road.
When Newscoven.ng checked the road early Saturday morning, many commuters and motorists alike were seen lamenting as they were passing through the road from Oganla up to the All Saints College end of the road.
Some of the motorists and commercial motorcycle (okada) operators found it difficult to navigate their way through the slippery road, worsened by deep gullies formed by the torrential rainfall.
It was gathered that many motorists abandoned their vehicles yesterday night as they could not find their ways through the water running through the rough, gully-like surface of the road.
A motorist, while speaking with Newscoven.ng, said he spent more than two hours driving on the bad road from Gbekuba area through Agbofieti before he could get to his house at Ita Faaji, a trip which he said normally takes him about 10 minutes.
“Where can we go from here? Many of us are landlords in this community. Can we remove our houses and relocate to another area? This is impossible. Even how many of us can afford to live in better environments?
“This is a very big community housing several thousands of people. We can only appeal to the state government and other authorities concerned not to abandon us in this area.
See the video here
“This is the first rain of the year; the road is already going through a bad shape. We are already witnessing pains and agonies, going out and returning to our various homes in tears.
“This has been our fate over the years. But we thought the present administration in the state has come to our aid when they filled the road with trucks of sand, late last year. Somebody should please do something,” he said.
Recalled that, through the intervention of the state government, late last year, the road stretch was filled with truck-loads of sand to ease the pains and agonies of the people of the community.
The intervention followed several appeals by the residents of the community to the state government and other authorities to come to their aid by constructing the road which has suffered several years of neglect under successive administrations in the state.
While the people of the community had then thanked the state government for its intervention on the road, many called the attention of Governor Seyi Makinde to the fact it was a shoddy job done which cannot outlive, even just one heavy rainfall.
Although the road was filled with about 100 trucks of sand, but the drainages were not contructed to ease the passage of water during the rainy season.
Governor Makinde had recently promised that he will find out the level of the official discussion on the road to ascertain whether or not its construction work has been awarded.
More Videos