The representatives of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA appeared before Oyo State House of Assembly, blaming the unwholesome state of Iseyin- Oyo road on lack of fund.
FERMA Southwest zonal head, Mrs Mary Adeniran while addressing Oyo lawmaker at Thursday plenary noted the agency is almost helpless by its maintenance role, when the road in question actually need total reconstruction.
According to her, the 45 kilometers is obviously in a terrible state and FERMA is in constant contact with the ministry of works and houses for possible reconstruction.
“Lack of fund is the major problem, and we are appealing to the State for possible intervention to ease the suffering of the people.
Hon. Adeola Bamidele representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju State Constituency in his contributions noted that the alarming situation of the road justifies the ongoing protest for over one week and demands urgent attention from the federal government.
“We know the road is a federal responsibility, but is FERMA aware of the ongoing protest which has lasted over a week? Did you make any coverage and send the video evidences to the ministry of works to show the anger and suffering of the people to the ministry?
“The farmers cannot get to their farms, travelers and commuters are stranded and students now take stressful alternative roads.”
The road which was said to be constructed in 1948 by the colonial administration still has an ancient bridge which a vehicle can ply at once.
Describing Oke Ogun as the food basket of Oyo State, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin lamented the state of the two roads- Moniya-Iseyin and Oyo-Iseyin roads, which are the only routes connecting the Oyo North Senatorial district to the capital city of the State.
He said, “if the two roads accessing the whole region is in bad shape, it is suddenly to describe this a partial disconnect of our people in Oke Ogun from other part of our dear State.
“The consequence is that the food security in the state is threatened and the livelihood of farmers in Oke Ogun is under threat as well.
The FERMA representative stated that total budget is N15billion annually for all the State in Nigeria, including Abuja.
We have newspaper cutouts, video clips attached to our proposals to the headquarters, so that they know we are close to the people and express the extend of people’s suffering.
“We are not happy with people losing their lives on the road, but there is little we can do about this issues. We are often limited by the resources available and as a maintenance outfit we cannot go beyond provisions.
“I will love if the comptroller of works can be invited for this kind of sitting because the office has more power on federal roads compare to FERMA,” she added.
