With a cutlass dangling in his right hand, Issa Olayinka, a resident of Tanke Oke-Odo, was on his way from his farm when this reporter accosted him.
His face relaxed, but I could still see the faint outline of wrinkles around his eyes — eyes which seemed to sparkle ever so slightly despite the coolness of the weather. Even the corners of his mouth seemed to fight against his normally stoic expression, betraying how he really felt as he told the travails his people are confronting owing to the terrible state of the road in their communities.
He said, “The major problem in this community is the poor state of our road. The road is no longer motorable.”
He put the cutlass in his hand on the ground and then continued, “Farming is one of our occupations here as you can see I am coming from my farm. This bad road is seriously affecting our farming business in several ways. It has made transportation of our farm produces to markets like Ganmo difficult. No car to take them because no driver is ready to put his car on this road. Everyone is afraid of irreparable damage that the road may cause to his car.
“And the car I get to my farm today (after serious pleas and begging) demanded #4,000 instead of #2,000 which is the usual price. I have no option than to pay him and this is a great loss to me as a farmer. The bad road made me spend beyond my budget.”
Tanke Oke-Ode road is a road that links about twenty(20) agrarian communities: Tanke-ode, Masudo, Agbo, Gago, Jalala, Balogun Okoomo, Aleniboro, Agbede, Gaa-Ajanaku, Fajeromi, Agunbiade, Ago, Asufa, Ojutaye, Suruge, Bolorunduro, Ole-meta, Amayo and Gaa-Akanbi, together in Ilorin South local government area of Kwara State.
This bad road connects several communities along that route especially the farming population that will invariably need to transport their harvests to the urban areas. But it appears that after these people have resigned to fate that this road will be constructed anytime soon.
More Residents Speak, Recount Losses
Another resident who spoke to this reporter, Wahab Ayinde, said the area is a residential district for students of the University of Ilorin but the bad road is forcing them to relocate to a distance far from their campus.
“This has led to great loss for the owners or landlords of hostels in these communities. There are many rooms without tenants and this will certainly affect their incomes as investors,” Mr. Wahab said.
Isiaka Aribidesi, a block industry owner and the Magaji of Balogun Community Tanke Oke-Odo, groaned over the economic setback the bad state of the road has brought to his business as one of the residents.
He said, “People are not using this road again because of its horrible condition. I own a block industry in this community and this road is really affecting my business.
“We usually lost half of the blocks we put on the car for delivery anytime we use this road.
“In fact, a few days back, 20 blocks(costing about N7,500) from our deliverables to a nearby location were destroyed because of this bad road.”
45years Effort Without Result
Another resident who identified himself as Abubakar Issa, 72, said the people of these communities have made efforts and employed all possible ways to seek help from the government since 1976 when the people first settled in the area.
“But for 45 years now, despite our sweat, the government still pays a deaf ear to our tears.”
“This road is denying us comfortable life and we always feel neglected and abandoned as Kwarans because of its poor condition. Our socio-economic development is also at stake. Government should help us,” Mr. Abubakar pleaded.
No Comment from Government
All efforts to make government speak on this story are fruitless.
Several calls and a text message sent to the Kwara State Commissioner for Works, Honourable Suleiman Rotimi Iliasu, asking for his response on the claim that nothing has been done by the government on the road for 45years despite several pleas and lobbying from the people, were not responded to as at the time of writing this report.
Community Effort
Chief Imam of Jalala Comunity, Tanke Oke-Odo, Alhaji Kareem Jalala informed this reporter that over N300,000 was raised by the people of these communities to construct a new culvert at the entrance of the road.
“We are building the culvert to replace the damaged old one and control the flood, especially during this rainy season.
“We are left with no other option than to charge everyone living here in this area financially to get the project done. We raised over N300,000. At least we will get something done ourselves if the government fails to help us,” Alhaji Kareem said.
