The road between Iyana-Oloke and Moshood Abiola Polytechnic has been described by many as a death trap, and the struggle to survive a trip on the bad road has been a point of misery for students, residents, commuters and motorists who are forced to use the road, daily.
A visit to the road site showed that the state government constructed about 2 km of the road from Panseke to Iyana-Oloke, while about 2km which led to the incumbent governor’s alma mater, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), was abandoned by the construction company identified as the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).
It was gathered that the state government paid the construction company to rehabilitate the road from Panseke to the school gate, but no one living in the area has been able to ascertain why construction stopped.
Due to the poor condition of the road, multiple accidents have been recorded, leading to the deaths of students of the polytechnic and residents of the town, alike.
A look into the reason for the deplorable condition of the road also showed that many of the buses used by the shuttle drivers around the school have been damaged as a result of this, risking the lives of the students who have no other choice but to utilise these vehicles. Additionally, drivers in the area insist that they have been forced to spend large sums of money in maintaining their vehicles, eating into their already low income.
For some students of MAPOLY, the government’s inability to fully rehabilitate the road disrupts their ability to learn.
Jubril Odebunmi, an Accountancy student, said: “MAPOLY road, being the only road to the institution from various areas of the city, is really in a bad shape.
“The bad condition of the road has been affecting all students by making transportation to the school difficult.
“I have observed that some shuttle drivers now avoid plying the road as they claim their vehicles get damaged due to the bad state of the road.”
In the same vein, another student known as Afolashade maintained: “The road is not up to the school standard, it so disheartening as it has been like that since I got admission into MAPOLY in 2014. It must have been like that for several years. It has to be renovated.
“I boarded a bus from Panseke, heading to school with a pregnant woman who was not comfortable…and she had to come to school every day like that in that condition which is not good for her health.
“So, I will plead with the government to please help this situation.
“Actually [the] bad road [in MAPOLY has] affected me one way or the other, but the day I [can] not forget is my first semester, was when my mum called me during a lecture to report to her location. [In order] to make it back to school in time, I collected a friend’s car key, but on my way back to school, the car got faulty at [the] front of Gbokoniyi church [and, unfortunately,] I could not make it back to the class that day.
“Our lives [are] at risk with the state of the road, and accidents have become a daily routine…”
Additionally, several students have either been late to class or have missed their lectures entirely, as a result of the bad road. Alayinde Esther narrated her experience, stating: “It has affected me in so many ways. Missing classes, which is bad, and even missing tests that I won’t be able to rewrite.
“Also, it causes pains to my body which eventually makes me weak before getting to class.”
A nursing mother, Tolani Sodiya, narrated her ordeal, saying she almost lost her pregnancy as a result of travelling on the road.
She claimed: “During my pregnancy when I was inside the bus, I [wasn’t able to] sit comfortably because of my stomach and most times when I got home, I ended up having pains.”
In his own reaction, the Student Union Government President of MAPOLY, Comrade Owo-Iya Rasaq, confirmed the bad state of the road, saying it is unbearable for the students who must traverse it every day.
He said: “You can see that the road is in bad condition, part of our promise before we resumed office was to reduce the stress in transporting our students from their various hostels to the campus.
“You will agree with me that, the bad road linking Ojere route from Iyana-Oloke is the main problem of transportation in MAPOLY.
“Recently, all our executives and some drivers took to the road to fill the potholes with concrete and sand, just to reduce the stress of transportation.
“However, we have been crying to the government to help us construct the road. God bless MAPOLY, God bless Ogun State, God bless Nigeria.”
The Chairman of the MAPOLY shuttle drivers, Comrade Adesanya Adeshina, echoed earlier sentiments of the increased cost of vehicle maintenance for drivers in the area, adding that the bad road causes drivers to spend an hour, manoeuvring potholes on a trip that should typically last 15 minutes.
He said: “The roads are bad, we expect our governor to repair the road. He knows how much he earns, yearly, from the institution.
“In MAPOLY, 70 per cent of Ogun citizens ply this route, our shuttles have reduced drastically. Most buses have run away due to the bad road.
“The road leads to Kobape, they promised to increase it to 10 lanes, they only grade the road whenever the state is having functions.
“Most trucks that ply roads, most of them struggle with the steering [and] they end up causing accidents within the vicinity.”
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