Road projects : FG remains committed to road Infastruture development – Controller of Works

By Ogundele Olanrewaju

Mr Kayode Ibrahim, the Federal Controller of Works in Oyo State, says Federal Government remains committed to road infrastructure development in Oyo State.

Ibrahim stated this while speaking with newsmen in Igboho, during an inspection tour of the Federal Government road projects in Oke-Ogun zone of the state.

The Controller who said Federal Government was doing a lot of works in the state, specifically referred to Iseyin-Agunrege-Saki Road axis where contractors were carrying out an emergency repairs of the failed sections of the road.

He said the Igboho-Igbeti Road project, which had been neglected for years, “is now receiving the attention of the present administration.

“We have brought an intervention project here to remove the bad portions and replace it with asphalt.

“We are doing intervention works on the 38 kilometres Igboho-Igbeti Road, one is the first five kilometres that is very bad, thereafter, do maintenance work on 11 kilometres,” he said.

Ibrahim, however, expressed satisfaction with the level of work done so far on the road by the indigenous contractors handling the intervention projects.

He said the contractors were doing perfectly well with the level of work already carried out, adding that indigenous contractors needed to be encouraged.

The controller said that the present administration was doing well as regards the encouragement of the indigenous contractors.

According to him, quite a lot of indigenous contractors have been engaged to carry out emergency maintenance works on the Federal roads across Oyo State.

Also, Mr Thomas Aridunnu, a former Secretary of Igboho Community, appreciated the Federal Government over the road projects.

Aridunnu said fixing the Igboho-Igbeti Road was the least expectation of Igboho community at this period.

He commended the Federal Government for bringing road infrastructure development to the community, pledging that the community would continue to support the present administration.

Also, Mr Jide Abiodun, a motorist plying Iseyin-Saki route, said that the ongoing repair of Iseyin-Saki Road had enhanced smooth vehicular movement.

Abiodun said that the intervention work would bring crashes on the road to zero level.

Meanwhile, the Controller has

advised the landowners and farmers to approach the state government for compensation on their land acquired for the ongoing Oyo-Ogbomoso Road project.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some people whose landed property were affected by the Oyo-Ogbomoso section of the Ibadan-Ilorin Road project, recently staged protest at Gambari Village, near Ogbomoso.

They protested over alleged non-payment of about N2.8 billion compensation by the Federal Government since 2011.

According to him, there is a Federal Executive Council decision, which says each state, where every Federal Government project domiciled as a host, should make provision for the right-of-way.

“Because, by the Land Use Act, land belong to the state, so if we are building a road in any state, such host state has to provide the right-of-way.

“So, Federal Government no longer pay compensation for the right-of-way acquired for road project,” he said.

Ibrahim explained that prior to decision of the Federal Executive Council, every single structure marked for demolition was fully paid for (compensation) even, before demolition.

He, however, said there were some outstanding marked structures that were not demolished, because the Federal Government has not paid for them, So they can not be asking us to pay compensation again,” he said.

Ibrahim further explained that compensation for all property demolished in 2010 were fully settled.

He said that some of the agrieved landowners’ agents had demanded for compensation, but they were advised to appropriately and told them the position of the Federal Government.