Ogun Govt Reacts To Criticism On Road Neglect, Appeals To FG On Construction Of Federal Roads

The Ogun State Government has responded to criticism on social media accusing it of neglecting bad roads in the state, contrary to its campaign promises.

Governor Dapo Abiodun trended on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday morning as people called him out over bad roads in some communities in the state.

X users posted pictures of bad roads from various locations in the state, accusing Abiodun of failing to provide ‘motorable’ roads.

But speaking at a media parley with members of the Consolidated Chapel of NUJ in Abeokuta on Wednesday, Kayode Akinmade, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, defended the government’s efforts in renovating roads across the state.

Akinmade explained that upon assuming office, the governor directed local government chairmen in all the 20 local governments to identify roads in need of renovation, which were subsequently repaired.

Akinmade added that over 600 kilometers of roads have been constructed, including some federal government roads.

However, the governor’s SA lamented that the state government’s efforts to take over the federal government roads for reconstruction have been met with refusal from the federal government.

He said, “We are all familiar with the intervention on some of the roads in the state by this administration. And you are also aware of the level of deterioration that has pervaded some of the major roads across Ogun state.

“The governor believes that during his tenure, he will democratize infrastructure in all the 20 local governments of the state. Within his first 100 days in office, he invited some people to stakeholder meetings, requesting that each of the local governments meet with their leaders and come up with one major road that is a significant challenge for rehabilitation.

“The local governments submitted the list of roads, which were reconstructed within four months. We have been doing that, but it’s unfortunate that some people have gone on social media saying different things.

“The resources of the government are very limited. There is no way the government can reconstruct all roads across the state at a time.

“On social media, some people join the bandwagon not knowing that they are pushing some people’s agenda. Most of the time, they compare us with Lagos state, but we want the people to know that some of those roads in Lagos state were constructed by the federal government.

“Take those roads out of Lagos and leave the rest, then compare the remainder with what we are doing in Lagos. You will recall that the former administration began an aggressive road construction around the Mowe corridor but couldn’t finish it, and that became a burden to us. Bridges were also constructed where they were not needed,” Akinmade added.

He appealed to the federal government to intervene and take over the responsibility of reconstructing the roads.