Barely a day after hundreds of students and staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, staged a protest to show anger on the deplorable state of the Ado-Ekiti-Ondo/Abuja road network, the federal government has approved commencement of its dualisation.
Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti via a statement.
According to him, the federal government had approved the dualisation of the said road network which is about 31 kilometer long.
He said the construction work on the road project would commence soon.
The Federal Polytechnic, Ado road is also linking important institutions such as the State Government College, Ado-Ekiti, the Federal Silos Centre, the State Cargo Airport under construction, and Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, and its 400-bed Multi-System Hospital.
The protesters, in their large numbers had Monday prevented both commuters and motorists alike, from passing across the road, thereby causing heavy traffic congestion, which made all road activities to be on a standstill for the greater part of the day.
But, Bamidele who recounted how thousands of students of the polytechnic trooped out to protest the deplorable condition of the road, listed Ado-Ekiti-Ikere-Akoko road, a 31-kilometre highway that connects Ekiti State to Federal Capital Territory through Ondo, Edo and Kogi States as approved for construction by President Tinubu.
According to the senate leader, the protesting students did not know the federal government had already awarded the contract to dualise the 31-kilometre road.
The highway, according to Bamidele, was equally captured in the 2024 Appropriation Act purely enacted to implement strategic infrastructure projects that would create limitless opportunities for Nigerians across 36 states of the federation.
Bamidele, who spoke about the road reconstruction during a feedback session with one of the country’s foremost legal icons and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola in Ado Ekiti added that, “The Ado-Ekiti-Ikere-Akoko, one of the 12 federal roads connecting Ekiti State to Kogi, Kwara, Ondo and Osun States, has suffered neglect even before democratic transition in 1999.
“Among others, the roads include Ifaki-Otun road, Ifaki-Ilasa-Omuo road, Ado-Ikere road, Ado-Ijan-Ikare road, Ado-Iyin-Aramoko road, Aramoko-Efon-Ijebu Jesa road, Efon-Iwaraja and Otun-Erinmope-Odo Owa road.”
Bamidele revealed that the dualisation of the Ado-Ekiti-Ikare-Akoko road was captured in the 2024 Appropriation Act and its reconstruction would commence before the end of this financial year.
Gbenga Sodeinde
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