Flyovers spring up in ancient city
Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State is wearing a new look, thanks to the urban renewal programme of Ibikunle Amosun administration, writes ERNEST NWOKOLO
Things are looking up in Ijebu-Ode, the traditional headquarters of the Ijebu people in Ogun State and royal home of the Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, who gracefully turned 80 recently.
Aside from being home to all Ijebu at home and in the Diaspora, the city is equally the administrative seat of the Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area, of Ogun State.
Believed to have been founded by Obanta, the first Awujale of Ijebuland, Ijebu-Ode is strategically located and served as a major artery to most Ijebu communit-ies spanning across over five local governments. And for a long time equally provided link roads to Ondo State, as well as the southern and eastern parts of the country for those travelling from the Yoruba inter land.
Over 70 small and medium scale enterprises operate in the city, which is also home to pioneer indigenous entrepreneurs and industrialists such as late Alhaji Jimoh Odutola, his brother, late Adeola Odutola and a host of others. The Ijebu people are also avid investors in transportation business and this is linked, in part, to their high level of mobility – social and economic.
Heavy human and vehicular traffic are common sight in Ijebu-Ode, most weekends and this doubles a dozen times over during every Ojude Oba cultural festival, marked once in a year during the Islamic festival of Eid-ul-Adha, by Ijebu sons and daughters to pay homage to their traditional head and paramount ruler, Oba Sikiru Adetona.
Attempts have been made in the past to improve upon the roads networks within the town to enhance seamless movement of goods and persons.
For example, the first civilian Governor of Ogun State, Chief Bisi Onabanjo, when he was the Ijebu-Ode Local Government Council chairman, did try to build roads to ring the town around but the project appeared terminated at the first phase.
The immediate past government of Gbenga Daniel did dualise the Ejirin Road linking the town from Mabolufon junction and also dualised the old Ondo Road to decongest heavy traffic often experienced at the Lagos garage area of the town but as the town population surged over time and coupled with the avalanche of tertiary institutions located there as well as its emerging new industrial belt, existing facilities such as roads proved not only over stressed and inadequate but also not the kind that could support Ijebu – Ode 20 or 30 years away from now.
According to an Ijebu-Ode based lawyer and businessman, Mr Gani Adefulu, the roads need to be renewed to cope with the demands of today and future.
Adefulu said, this is why the urban renewal project of the Ibikunle Amosun administration in the state did not only come handy, but also something that should be supported.
A petty trader, who identified herself simply as Mama Ibeji, told The Nation that though her shop was brought down over road construction but she admitted that the pains and temporary setbacks experienced by the loss cannot be compared to the long term benefits of spacious and motorable roads in the town, aside the aesthetic value it adds.
Last year, Amosun awarded contracts for the construction of two flyovers located at Mobalufon junction, along Sagamu-Benin expressway and Bobasua/Lagos Garage.
He equally awarded contract for the expansion of the Folagbade-Ibadan road, and as would be expected with developments, people’s home, shops, worship centres were demolished to pave way for the six-lane roads and even the dead too, also lost their habitat to the road project as they were evicted from their graves.
It is believed that when completed, the Mobalufon bridge would put a halt to the regular carnage on the expressway as vehicles moving to Ijebu-Ode from the Itoikin-Ikorodu road will now use the flyover instead of risking head-on collision with those coming from the Benin-Ore end of the expressway.
That lives are lost to traffic accident and properties destroyed at that sharp junction is beyond dispute. On a particular day, in the month of September, 2012, a truck trying to make way for another one veered off the expressway at the Mabolufon junction and swept pedestrians and street traders away, killing no fewer than 24 persons in the process.
Now, that flyover which descends into the six -lane international standard Moblufon-Folagbade-Imepe-Ibadan Road would check such occurrence.
Also, commuters along the old Ondo-Benin Road will not experience any traffic gridlock at Bobasua/Lagos Garage and the attendant accidents particularly Okada – vehicle accidents, would be eliminated drastically as another flyover is being constructed at the T-junction.
Amosun who inspected the multi-billion naira bridges few months ago, promised to transform the old Ijebu-Ode city through provision of modern infrastructural facilities.
The roads and the bridges are expected to last over 50 years and with the complementary usage that would come from the ongoing Ilisan-Ago-Iwoye road project, when completed, they would all boost commercial activities in Ijebu-Ode and the whole of Ijebuland This is predicated on the presence of Apoje Farm in neighbouring Ijebu-Igbo and the proposed Cassava and Rice Mills in that axis.
Such quantum and standard of roads are needed to enhance the movement of goods and people as well as link major Ijebu towns and communities easily.
Last December, Obasanjo lauded the changing face of Ijebu-Ode being initiated by his Owu brother and son, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, when he noted that things were now getting better in the state under the control of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The former president, who spoke at the Ogun State Christmas Carol in Abeokuta, noted that such massive road construction as embarked upon by Amosun would cause businesses to thrive, and that the projects are such that even those opposed to the governor can’t deny it.
Obasanjo said: “Things are getting better every day; getting better every time in Ogun. When I was talking of roads in Abeokuta, they said I haven’t been to Ijebu-Ode and Sagamu.
“On getting to Ijebu-Ode, I saw (if not better) bridges than that of Abeokuta being constructed. What about the ones in Ilaro; what of Ayetoro? If we have good infrastructure, business will thrive, economy will increase and that is what you are doing across the state.”
Also, Oba Sikiru Adetona equally lauded the administration of Ibikunle Amosun for the wonderful work it is doing and prayed that God would grant it more successes.
But Adefulu who spoke to The Nation at the weekend, captured the essence of the project succinctly when he said the development taking place in Ijebu-Ode affected his properties but remained unperturbed without compensation because it was a sacrifice for the general benefits of all Ijebu people.
He said: “It is called urban renewal. You see what makes Ijebu-Ode different from other parts of Ogun State is the same urban renewal done during the Olabisi Onabanjo tenure, when he was a local government chairman. That time, he was breaking down houses for roads expansion and that was what made Ijebu-Ode to be different from other parts of the state.
“Onabanjo was a local government chairman during the military era, that was when Folagbade street and the concept of ring road came about, he wanted to build a ring around Ijebu-Ode with roads from where you have Yisade Hotel. If you are coming from Ibadan, you will just go through Yisade and that was supposed to be the first phase of the project but they didn’t continue with it.
“The concept was such that when you are coming from Ibadan you just pass through Yisade and link the Sagamu-Ore expressway without entering Ijebu-Ode town. That was the concept. You can see all the roads in Ijebu-Ode, the new road, Abeokuta road, Bonojo they are all widened and big roads despite the fact that they are all single lanes, they are better than some double lanes you see in some parts of the country.
“Those were the visions of the people who governed at that time. And we enjoyed the concept up till today but there is supposed to be a renewal, I’m just being objective, but to some people, it is why is Amosun’s building roads and not building our stomach? Somebody must do it (build the roads and bridges).
“I’m telling you, Ijebu-Ode is going to be better for it, if he is able to finish all the road projects here. It is going to boost the outlook and the economic activities here.
“If people are saying we the Ijebus don’t need the roads and the bridges, the question you as a journalist should ask is: who are the people saying it? Look, when you go to Sagamu, before the beginning of this administration, it was a big village. You can’t compare Sagamu with Ijebu-Ode despite the economic activities there. They have the NNPC there and the cement company but you can’t compare the outlook there with the cosmopolitan outlook of Ijebu Ode because of the roads. The road network in Ijebu-Ode is better.
“Those saying we don’t need roads and bridges are not the real people. It is these hungry politicians that are saying roads are not necessary and are going about destroying the man’s name and the viable projects being executed.
“I’m not saying Amosun is a Saint, he has his shortcomings but the truth is, he is performing within the limited resources that he has compared to an era where nothing was done, and only money was shared.
“I’m going to give you an analogy. If an engineer could construct a road that did not last for six months, what can you make of that? What he (Amosun) did on this road affected my properties, I wasn’t compensated. How much are they going to pay me? But it is for the general purpose, it is for public use. Something must give way for development to take place.”
According to Adefulu, an average Ijebu person, the technocrats and the market women are supportive of the roads projects in Ijebu-Ode and also praying for the initiator but it is the “paid politicians” that are averse to it and are in “remote minority.”
Interestingly, Governor Ibikunle Amosun had last Saturday, named one of the flyovers in Ijebu-Ode after Oba Sikiru Adetona, in appreciation of his fatherly support to his administration.
Amosun noted the contribution of Oba Adetona to some of the achievements recorded in the last 35 months by his administration saying such could not have been possible without the monarch’s royal support and blessings.
Amosun said: ”We are grateful to God on your behalf for coming thus far. You are a role model and a monarch that respects all offices. My administration will not have achieved all that we have been able to record if not for your advice and fatherly role in ensuring that we did not fail. You are an experienced Oba and we are honouring you today which mark your 80th birthday with the naming of the first flyover bridge in the town after your name.”
