Legal luminary, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), has threatened to lead a protest if the Federal Government fails to provide an alternative route, as work begins at the collapsed Ureje Bridge, linking Ado-Ekiti with Ijan town in Ekiti State.
The road, probably the busiest in Ekiti, is the major link to two tertiary institutions, the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) and Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti.
Last Friday, hundreds of commuters were stranded on the road as the contractor handling the project suddenly shut the bridge and commenced repairs without providing for an alternate route.
The bridge, it would be recalled, was submerged by flooding last year, killing several people when a section collapsed, cutting off a section of the state capital.
Babalola, who visited the project site on Saturday morning alongside the Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe and the Ado Local Council Chairman, Modupe Fajuyi, lamented the timing of the repairs.
Speaking with journalists after the inspection, Babalola, who chided the Federal Government for starting the project late, urged residents to endure the pains in public interest.
Babalola lamented that the closure had affected the day-to-day activities at his university and the polytechnic, even as residents had also been suffering.
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He said: “This road was constructed over 90 years ago. It was a very narrow road. It is the only road that links Lagos to Lokoja and to Abuja. It was constructed by Royal Niger Company. But, unfortunately, it has been neglected ever since.
“Since I started my university 11 years ago, I have been maintaining it. I have written several petitions to the Federal Government. I thought they would do their repair during the dry season. Now, ABUAD community and many other areas of Ado Ekiti have been cut off.
“I expected that they would have done the repair earlier. There are two alternatives. It is either they divide the bridge and let one section be used, or the contractor should grade the road at Igirigiri, along Ado local government, as an alternative route so that the people will not suffer.”
Babalola regretted that Ekiti had become the most neglected state in Nigeria, with no visible federal infrastructure that could boost its economy.
Egbeyemi, however, directed the contractor to quickly provide alternative road to prevent people from venting their anger on them.
Oba Adejugbe commended the Federal Government for attending to the bridge, even as he noted that the construction work commenced very late.
The Federal Controller of Works in Ekiti, Engr Isiaq Lawal, said it was never the intention of the Federal Ministry of Works to inconvenience people, even as he urged the residents to cooperate with the contractors for the success of the project.
