Pain, Anguish As Commuters Lament Collapse Of Bridge Linking Ondo And Ekiti

Residents, motorists and commuters in several towns and communities in Ondo State are finding it difficult to ply the damaged federal roads linking the state to other states.

Asides the roads being inundated with water from torrential rainfall being witnessed since April 2022, as well as gully erosions, the major bridge linking the state and Ekiti State at the border town of Irun Akoko in Akoko North West Local Government Area recently collapsed and is still unfixed.

Irun Akoko, an agrarian community is the biggest town in Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo, that connects Ekiti through Egbe, Imesi and Isinbode all in Ekiti State.

The collapsed road has been a busy axis for over four years as commuters from Lagos, Oyo, Osun and Ekiti states ply it regularly en route to Abuja.

I gathered that the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), recently carried out repairs on the road but allegedly ignored entreaties by residents on the urgent need to attend to the bridge.

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As of the time of this report, the road has become impassable as a truck loaded with metal scraps fell on the collapsed bridge.

One of the commuters, Mr Ojo Ayoola, told me that they have to make a detour and embark on longer routes, before connecting to commercial centres like Ikare, Akoko, Owo, Benin, Okenne, Lokoja and Abuja.

Also, the Akure-Ado-Ekiti road, which is less than 40 kilometres is currently in a deplorable, pitiable and impassable state.

Motorists and other users of the road are experiencing great hardship. A length of road of about 43 kilometres that ordinarily should have taken about 30 minutes now takes as much as three to four hours.

Often, motorists are compelled to avoid the road and take the longer Akure-Igbara Oke -Igbara Odo-Ilawe Ado Ekiti route to reach Ado Ekiti, before the bridge that links Ondo State with Ekiti state on that axis collapsed.

While visiting the roads, several road users lamented over neglect of the road. While some of them blamed the two governors of Ondo and Ekiti states, for not attending to the road, others said as a federal road, it is the responsibility of the federal government.

One of the motorists who spoke with me lamented that if there is a working relationship between the governors, they should have cooperated to fix the damaged roads.

He added that vehicles plying the road have in most cases, been damaged beyond repairs, to the extent that only rickety vehicles that are unfit for human use are the ones common on the road for commercial purposes.

According to him, this road is gradually becoming a den for criminals such as kidnappers, armed robbers and killer herdsmen among others. Its a place where frequent accidents and loss of lives occur. Also reported are severe damages to vehicles resulting in high cost of maintenance, as well as increase in cost of transportation.