Respite is under way for the people of Edo State as the federal government has declared its readiness to fix the dilapidated Ekpoma-Ehor section of Benin-Auchi-Okene Expressway.
For work to begin in earnest, the government said it had released funds for the reconstruction of the failed section of the highway which has caused motorists untold hardship for several years.
The cheering news came after the intervention of the Edo Central senator-elect, Mr. Monday Okpebholo, met with the minister of works and housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) in Abuja on Monday.
Okpebholo popularly called Akpakominza had in the past canvassed for the repairs of the expressway and promised the people of Edo Central that the road would be his top priority if elected.
The senator-elect who was in Aso Rock for the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers-elect meeting with the president-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, used the occasion to relate the minister on the poor state of the road ahead of the approach of the rainy season.
In a statement issued by his media office yesterday, which was made available to LEADERSHIP, Fashola reportedly told Okpebholo that the contractors had just been paid and would be moving to site in a matter of days, adding that palliative works would commence immediately on the Irrua and Ekpoma axis.
The contract for the road was awarded by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan with work on the Benin City and Auchi axis commencing, leaving out the Edo central section. The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration however started work on the Ewu interchange a few years ago.
Okpebholo who was elated by Fashola’s disclosure, said, “This is a sign of the good things to come for the people of Esanland from APC and the incoming government of the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
The poor condition of the expressway and other roads in Esanland was believed to have contributed largely to the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the presidential and National Assembly (NASS) elections of February 25, 2023, where the current Senator Clifford Ordia was defeated by Okpebholo of the APC.
In a quick reaction to the new development, Julius Aikore, a community leader in Irrua said that Esan people were no more ready to play the kind of politics that had put them behind other senatorial districts in Edo state saying, “we will only be voting for the party and individuals who were ready to develop our land.”
The Irrua-Opoji junction-Ekpoma section has remained in a deplorable condition resulting in the youths and motorists leading protests and blocking the road to express their anger over the gridlock caused by articulated vehicles (trailers).
The Coalition of Esan Youth Movements in a statement last year signed by Odion Ighodaro, the group’s convener said the road was awarded in 2013 and abandoned despite the people voting largely for the PDP government of the day at a time.
The protesters complained that traveling from Ekpoma to Benin sometimes took between six to 12 hours which hitherto was about half an hour drive.
