A road rehabilitated by the federal government in Osun State has started deteriorating. The boundary road connects Odo-Ori to Agbowo Road in the Iwo Local Government Area of the state.
Allocations for the rehabilitation of border town roads were generously provided for in the 2023 budget of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.
The approved appropriation act provided funds for the special repair, limited rehabilitation or rehabilitation of at least 78 internal and community boundary roads in Osun State in the past year.
One such boundary road was the Odo-Ori-Agbowo road. At the Agbowo end of this road is another road that leads to Ife-Odan in the Ejigbo Local Government Area of the state.
A contract signpost beside Habaaz Petrol Filling StationPhoto Credit: Sodeeq Atanda/FIJ.
While the name of this particular road was not specifically stated in the budget, one of the project descriptions that comes close to describing it is “limited rehabilitation of Iwo-Oyo State border road; CH8+000 – CH12+000 in Osun State”.
The road had a funding provision of N50 million.
FIJ learned from some community residents that Ibadak Construction Ltd., a local construction firm, was mobilised to the site last May.
CRACKS ON THE ROAD
Nafeesat Agbaje, a resident of the Agbowo area, told FIJ that the contractor completed the rehabilitation about a week before Eid-Kabeer, the Islamic festival.
L-R: Images of the road before and after the construction, sourced from Google Earth
“We learned that the project was awarded by the federal government. The whole work was completed in roughly three weeks, and the company left the site,” Agbaje said. “The road was partially open during the construction, but it was opened for public use immediately after the construction workers were done.”
Less than a month after the road was completed, it has begun deteriorating at various points, FIJ has found.
Another resident, who asked not to be named, said that he and some people had become concerned about the state of the road and had made efforts to complain to the company.
But their efforts failed.
A cracked portion of the roadPhoto Credit: Sodeeq Atanda/FIJ
During a visit to the location, our reporter observed that the rehabilitation started at Odidere Junction in Odo-Ori and stopped at Agbowo Junction. But the company failed to construct a drainage system on both sides of the road. As a matter of fact, the company only built a drainage line on a short part of the road, leaving most of the road without a rainwater channel.
READ ALSO: How Former Lawmaker Akintayo Amere ‘Sold’ Constituency Project After Leaving Office
Specifically, the new concrete drainage started from the river called ‘Odo Elewa’, beside the Iwo slaughterhouse, and stopped shortly after Habaaz Filling Station.
The end of the drainage beside Habaaz Petrol Filling StationPhoto Credit: Sodeeq Atanda/FIJ
The asphalt surface of some spots on the road has shrunk, showing visible signs of deterioration. The part of the bridge on the river has been cracked up, while at least two portholes could be seen some metres away from the bridge.
READ ALSO: Osun Speaker’s Aides ‘Assault’ Lawyer Enforcing Court Order
Road cracks, as seen on the road, are caused by interconnected factors, such as substandard construction, design flaws, stress arising from heavy traffic and geological disturbances, among others.
NO RESPONSE FROM THE COMPANY
FIJ’s attempts to get the company’s comments were not successful. FIJ found that the company, registered in 2019, has a contract history with various government ministries.
The company has John Abah Augustine, a legal practitioner, as its lone director, but multiple emailed requests for Augustine to comment on this story were not responded to.
The company’s details
The first email containing a detailed list of questions was sent on July 7 and resent on July 11 without any response. FIJ further sent the questions to him on July 12 via Facebook Messenger, but he had not responded at press time.
Augustine is the founder and principal partner of Grand Law, a private law firm founded in October 2017.
The post Osun Road Repaired by FG in June Has Started Deteriorating appeared first on Exposed.Quest The Quest for X !.