The Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Clement Haastrup, has raised the alarm over what he described as the dangerous conditions of some roads across the land.
For the first class traditional ruler, some federal roads within the ancient cities are in terrible situations, lamenting that the ugly reality has been claiming precious lives.
Specifically, the monarch said the Gbongan-Ife-Ilesa-Akure axis of the Ibadan-Abuja expressway is one of the road infrastructures in deadly condition.
He pleaded with the Federal Government and well-meaning Nigerians to repair the roads across Gbongan, Ife, Ilesa to Akure axis, stressing that more lives might be wasted if repair work is not carried out urgently.
Oba Haastrup made the appeal in Ilesa while reacting to the growing number of accidents on the road that cause fatalities and property damages.
Given the significance of the more than 100-kilometer road to the social, educational, and economic spheres of the South West states, the paramount monarch of Ijesaland lamented the rising number of deaths on the road due to its poor condition.
Haastrup emphasised the necessity for the Federal Government to include the road in the 2025 supplementary budget, pointing out that the continual devaluation of the naira against the dollar caused the cost of the project to jump four times which made its construction difficult.
In order to save the lives and property of road users, many of whom were students at public and private tertiary institutions along the Ile-Ife/Ilesa, Akure axis of the road, the first class Oba suggested that a portion of the funds allocated for the road be used for palliative measure.
Recalling his encounter while traversing the Gbongan–Ile-Ife– Ilesa axis of the road before his installation, the Ajimoko III said he lost two of his bulletproof tyres and rims to a deadly pothole on the road, a situation that created a great fear in him.
He claimed that in addition to hindering Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo States’ tourism potential, the road’s poor condition deterred both domestic and foreign investors from establishing enterprises in these regions.
The monarch, who revealed that he had alerted the Federal Emergency Road Maintenance Agency to the challenge, insisted that the state of the road also made users vulnerable to kidnapping and robbery attacks.
He therefore asked all concerned authorities to act quickly to avoid more fatalities and destruction of property.