“If we do not get the required attention in the next two weeks, we will resume here, I will come here personally and lead the team, and we will begin serious reconstruction on this road.”

Those are the words of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State over the deplorable condition of the Lagos/Ota/Abeokuta Road during an inspection of the road on Saturday.

The Governor revealed that there were a lot of options on the table for the reconstruction of the road, revealing further that what was budgeted for the road by the federal government was not enough to do a serious palliative on the road.

According to him several proposals have been made to the Federal Government while he and his team have severally met with the Minister of Works and Infrastructure, Babatunde Raji Fashola, but all to no avail.

He also revealed that the bad portion of the road had been quantified with a proposal to fund a portion of the project, calling on the FG to be ready to move the project forward.

“I am here to see the road again and see how bad it is because we have intervened several times, but you know these palliatives don’t last for a while, when the rain comes, it washed it away.

“We have made several proposals to the Federal Government, we have made countless trip to the Minister of Works, His Excellency, Governor Babatunde Fashola.

“You know this road is on contract, otherwise, as a responsible state government, I would have jumped on this road and start construction like I did in Agbara-Atan and Epe-Ijebu Ode which are also federal roads and also Sagamu/Abeokuta Road.

“Because our people do not understand Federal and State Road because there are no federal people, people are feeling pains on this road and I am feeling the pains for them.

“I am calling on the Federal Government again, there are so many options on the road, we have quantified the sections that are very bad on this road jointly with the Federal Ministry of Works, we have proposed to be responsible for a portion of that expense.

“I am hereby calling on the Federal Government, please come to the help of Ogun State people, let us get some instructions on this transaction, let us move this transaction forward, we cannot afford another year to go and this project becomes worse.

“I feel the pain of our people and I use this opportunity to plead with them to be patient with us.

“If this our plea and cry do not get attention, we do not have a choice that to come here ourselves and take possession of this road, take ownership of it and from our meagre resources, we have to intervene and begin to do some serious palliatives on the road.

“I can not take the funding that is meant for Agbara/Atan/Lusada road and come and put it on the Abeokuta/Ota Road, do you want me to abandon that road? That road is the road that leads to the biggest industry hub in this country, that road is also a federal road, a 19-kilometer road and in another two weeks, 15 of the 19-kilometer road would have been asphalted, that is the commitment to our people.

“If we do not get the required attention in the next two weeks, we will resume here, I will come here personally and lead the team, and we will begin serious reconstruction on this road.”