Oyo residents lament collapsing Iseyin-Abeokuta road

• The collapsed road. Photo: Ademola Adegbite

Farmers, truck drivers and other road users have continued to bear the brunt of the deteriorating condition of the Iseyin-Abeokuta road, with residents of Iseyin, Iseyin Local Government Area of Oyo State, calling for urgent intervention to prevent further economic losses.

The residents made the call on Wednesday during an inspection of a collapsed section of the federal road at Oja-Agbe, Iseyin.

The President of Ebedi Frontliners, Iseyin, Mr Segun Adeleke, who led the inspection, said the road, which was last reconstructed during the first term of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, had been neglected for too long.

Adeleke said the deteriorating road was affecting the movement of farm produce from several agrarian communities in Iseyin towards the Ibarapa area of Oyo State and Abeokuta in Ogun State.

Addressing journalists at the inspection point, he said, “We have been too silent on the neglect of this road, which serves many agrarian communities from Iseyin towards Ibarapa area of Oyo State till Abeokuta in Ogun State.

“Many farms’ produce get spoilt along the road as trailers and trucks get stuck on the way or fall by the roadside because of the collapsed sections of the road.

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“We are calling on the Minister for Works, David Umahi, to please pay a visit to this road and see the condition. Apart from the collapsed section at Oja-Agbe, another bridge at Ado-Awaye has also collapsed, as well as other points along the road to Abeokuta.”

Also speaking, the All Progressives Congress candidate for the Federal House of Representatives for Iseyin, Itesiwaju, Kajola and Iwajowa, Saheed Alaran, assured that the collapsed section would be given adequate attention by the Federal Government.

Alaran appreciated President Bola Tinubu for what he described as his giant stride in constructing the coastal road and revamping many existing roads across Nigeria.

The candidate of the Allied People’s Movement, Dasola Fadiran, and the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Psaltry International Company, Mrs Yemisi Iranloye, who also spoke with journalists, called for a “state of emergency on the Iseyin-Abeokuta road.”

They cited the poor condition of the road and the loss of manpower among farmers, truck drivers and other road users as reasons for urgent intervention.