Adekunbi Ero
Motorists and commuters plying the busy Benin- Auchi road in Edo State are facing hard times because of the very deplorable state of the highway. The nightmarish experience of users of the road had been a perennial problem, which is aggravated during the raining season. Recall that around this period last year, the state governor, Godwin Obaseki was stranded on the Ekpoma axis of the road for hours prompting him to call on the federal government for intervention. He also promised that the state government would intervene in the failed portion of the road.
Over the weekend, motorists had difficult times plying the road as hundreds of articulated vehicles, commuter buses and private car owners were left stranded at Ekpoma axis by Poultry Road and Mousco Junctions at Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area of the state
Distraught motorists who plied the road Monday morning, told TELL that the traffic build-up started before Irrua junction at Ekpoma, and extended beyond the Ambrose Alli University (AAU) campus gate towards Iruekpen axis of the road. Last year, commuters, especially the articulated vehicles, spent between two and three days to get out of the grid-lock. Though some palliative work was carried out on the collapsed portion then, the first few rains this year worsened the condition of the road.
A motorist, Nathaniel Egwaoje, who lamented what the road had become within just a short period of rehabilitation, appealed for a permanent solution to end the perennial suffering by motorists who have no choice but to pass through it. A frustrated Abdulah Yahaya on his part complained that he had remained on the same spot for over 24 hours. Yahaya also believed that a permanent solution was needed, suggesting that drainage be constructed on both sides of the section of the highway without further delay.
“Imagine haven to spend as much time as we had even when the spot is yet to be as bad as it was last year. Government cannot just be wasting money all in the name of carrying out yearly palliative on the same problem without achieving success of it. There is need for drainage to take the water off that area to a channel somewhere around. Further palliative work without this is just a complete waste of fund and time,” he stated.
However, an attempt made to get the reaction of the Federal controller for works in Edo State, Owen Oke , was unsuccessful as he was said to have retired from service just last week while the new controller was yet to officially assume duty.
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