Date Published: 05/24/09

Work begins on Akure –Benin bad spot as Mimiko awards N118.4m road rehabilitation contract

Olusegun Mimiko

Harried commuters who hitherto spend harrowing hours at the bad stretch of road at Ogbese town along the Akure Benin federal highway last weekend heaved a sigh of relief as the Ondo State government awarded rehabilitation contact for the road to a construction firm, Fountain Construction Company Nigeria Limited for a sum of N118.4m. The company which had already commenced work at the site has four weeks to complete the rehabilitation work.

The State Commissioner for Works, Mr Yele Omogunwa while speaking with journalists in Akure on Monday shortly after an inspection tour of the dangerous spot at Ogbese which has almost been cut off, expressed satisfaction at the pace of job by the construction firm. He disclosed that the State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko on assumption of office in February expressed grave concern at the deplorable conditions of Federal roads in the State, particularly the Federal Highways from Ita-Ipele-Owena (Ilasha) and directed the State Ministry of Works to urgently set in motion the process of rehabilitating the road to ameliorate the suffering of the road users and reduce the unnecessary carnages and loss of man-hour on the road.

His words: “My Ministry, having taken inventory of the failed portion, prepared the Bills of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation (BEME) for nine (9) identified failed portions on the road by direct labour. But due to the enormous volume of work and cost involved in the Ogbese-Akure section of the failed portion, the Ministry sought and obtained Mr. Governor’s approval to rehabilitate the Ogbese-Akure section by contract in view of the urgency attached to the rehabilitation of the road.”

The Commissioner disclosed that in order not to infringe on any Federal laws, officials of the office of the Federal Controller of Work at the Akure office of the Federal Ministry of Works were involved in the whole exercise of getting the failed potion at Ogbese fixed in view of the fact that the road is a Federal Highway.

“You can see the harrowing experience of commuters who ply this road which leads to Osun State, Edo State as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja go through every day. If we say that because it is a Federal Highway and we close our eyes and allow the road to be completely cut off while lives and properties worth millions of Naira are being lost almost on a daily basis, it will be a disservice to this nation as well as our own people. This is the reason why we have to intervene despite our lean resources in order to arrest this ugly trend,” Omogunwa expounded.

Most of the commuters and residents of Ogbese who spoke with reporters on the development were full of praises for the administration of Dr Olusegun Mimiko for rising to the occasion. They described the step as a sign that the government is indeed one with a caring heart.