The Nation Newspaper

Tag: rural roads

  • Rural roads to get more attention if elected governor – Abiodun

    The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, yesterday expressed his readiness to give more attention to rural development by connecting rural communities to urban centres with new link roads, if elected governor.

    Abiodun said fixing of rural roads in the three senatorial districts and linking them with urban settings would ease the movement of farm produce and people from one location to another.

    The governorship hopeful, who made this known while speaking at the palace of the Alaye of Ode-Remo in Remo North Local Government Area, added that rural roads connecting Ogun State with neighbouring states would also be given priority attention.

    The successful entrepreneur and real estate player noted that though it is important to have flyovers in Abeokuta, but said the need for rural roads should not be sacrificed just because of the state capital.

    According to him, public pipe-borne water which had disappeared in the state in the last seven and half years would return, even in rural areas, for the benefits of citizens and residents of the state.

    He declared that the forthcoming governorship election is for the greater growth and development of the state and urged the people to cast their vote en-masse for him and the APC.

    Abiodun said: “It is also evident that many communities in the state are without pipe-borne water and regular power supply. We will look into these challenges and attend to them.

    “It is common knowledge that, while some governors, having spent eight years in office, have got nothing to show as electoral promises. But I want to assure you that ours will be different. We will make good our electoral promises.

    “We are not leaving APC for another party because we know it is a great party that can bring dividends of democracy to the people of the state.

    “We are going to return power to the local governments so that council chairmen can perform their statutory duties effectively. Also, we will build multi-healthcare centres in each local government area.

    “Those using the portraits of President Muhammadu Buhari as their presidential candidate are not being honest to themselves because they do not belong to our party, APC.”

     

  • ‘Opening up rural roads will check urban migration’

    ‘Opening up rural roads will check urban migration’

    There is a silent road revolution going on in Akwa Ibom State where Governor Gabriel Udom Emmanuel is opening up rural areas to stem urban drift, TEMITAYO AIYETOTO reports.

    When Governor Udom Emmanuel assumed office on May 29, 2015, he promised the people of Akwa Ibom State to make the place better than he met it. He said he would not concentrate on Uyo, the capital, alone but touch every part of the state. In so short a time, he has lived up to his promise. The state is wearing a new look; every nook and cranny is being touched in his determination to make it bigger and better.

    From Uyo to Afaha Ikot Obio Nkan in Ibesikpo Local Government; from Ikot Akpaden, Mkpat Enin (Mkpat Enin local government) to Osiok Iko Eket (Eket local government) to Ikot Ekan, Abak (Abak local government) and Afaha Nsit in Nsit Ibom local government, among others, the state has been turned into a workyard. Places, which were hitherto thick forest, have been opened up, with roads springing up there. To ensure that the roads are not washed away by rain because the state virtually sits on water, they are fitted with side drains and double layer of asphalt.

    The roads interconnect one local government to the other, with some leading to the East-West road to ensure easy access to Port Harcourt in Rivers State; and parts of Delta as well as some Southeast states. There are 114 completed and ongoing projects in the state, according to Commissioner for Works Ephraim Inyang-Eyen, who conducted reporters round the state. The commissioner said many of the roads would be ready in May when the governor marks his third anniversary and the others in December. ‘’His Excellncy’s plan is for every part of the state to feel the impact of government,’’ he said.

    Nothing, he said, was being left to chance in order to meet the governor’s deadline for the completion of the projects. ‘’The contractors know that they have to meet the deadline and also deliver as per the contract terms. I am always around to see things for myself and where the job is not being done according to specification, they will have to start all over again’’, Inyang-Eyen said. A major project is the 25-kilometre road from Uyo, which terminates in front of the Four Season Hotel in Ikot Ekpene. The government is interested in the project in order to drive traffic to the five-star hotel when it opens, the commissioner said.

    People trooped out to receive him during the tour. They also sang the praise of the governor, who some of them described as Godsent. In a village in Ikot Ekpene, the people had been cut off from the other village where their children attend school because of the collapsed link bridge. An alternative route has been provided for them, while work is ongoing on a new bridge. Among the roads being constructed in Uyo are the Chief Whip Road in Ewet Housing, Graceland School Road in Shelter Afrique and internal roads in both estates. Also under construction are the Concrete Hotel Road and other spurs in Ewet Housing Estate, Library Avenue and Tabernacle Road off Ikot Ekpene Road with outfall drain.

    In Eket, the government is changing the face of the oil village, with accessible roads. A big roundabout interconnecting almost every part of the town is in the offing. Inyang-Eyen said it was the governor’s plan to make Eket worthy of being an oil city which its people will be proud of. In an interview, some residents hailed the governor for all  he is doing. Itoro Umosen said it was a thing of joy seeing the changes the governor is making within such a short time. She said the state was blessed, adding that it just needed ‘’a true and sincere leader to make it great’’. John Umoh praised Emmanuel for his ‘’people-oriented’’ projects, saying that is the stuff of which great leaders are made. Peter Udoh said the governor could not have come at a better time, noting that he was made for a time like this.

    After the tour, the commissioner said the governor was passionate about tackling flooding and providing alternative routes for the people.

     

  • Aregbesola and rural roads

    Aregbesola and rural roads

    Nigeria being a major oil producing nation had hitherto depended on oil for a large chunk of its foreign exchange, thereby neglecting the agric sector for many years.

    During those years of neglect, a lot of rural roads that lead to farmlands which were supposed to be the major source of income for the country had been neglected, thereby leaving them in a state of disrepair, making a lot of the rural areas where we have large farmlands inaccessible.

    The nation is going through recession and it has become very obvious that the only way out of the current economic quagmire is for all and sundry to go back and embrace farming on a massive scale.

    For a nation or state to promote agriculture, rural farmers needs to be encouraged in a lot of ways and one of such ways is by making their roads good and accessible to allow them go to farms and at the same time transport their farm produce to the various markets around them.

    Osun governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and the Osun Rural Access and Mobility Project (Osun RAMP) can then be described as a match from heaven to get the state out of the current economic downturn, going by the huge impact the activities of RAMP has had on rural communities through the construction and rehabilitation of their roads.

    Osun State being an agrarian state is made up of many rural areas with vast farmland which needs accessible roads to allow the farmers in such communities to transport their farm produce to nearby markets for sale.

    It was therefore a huge respite to the people of Osun through the efforts of Governor Aregbesola when the state was chosen as one of the lucky ones to benefit from the RAMP intervention through the World Bank and the French Development Agency in the construction and rehabilitation of rural roads across the state so as to assist farmers in the transportation of their goods to the cities, thereby boosting the economy of the state through farming.

    The project in Osun is being implemented and supervised by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU), a body made up of the heads of government agencies and parastatals, chief among of which is the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. Through its activities, the project have had a wider impact on the affected communities by providing accessibility which has brought means of livelihood to the poor and at the same time boosted the economy of the state.

    The Aregbesola administration and Osun RAMP met a lot of the rural roads in a state of disrepair, but the story has changed significantly today as a lot of the roads are now wearing a new look as farmers and traders alike are now experiencing boom in their activities as they now find it much easier to get to their farms.

    Commercial activities in many of the communities have now doubled because their markets are now flooded with varieties of farm produce on every market day.

    A lot of communities which had formerly been cut off by rivers from major markets now have access to the markets because Osun RAMP have succeeded in constructing bridges that will stand the test of time for them.

    Some of the communities in Osun where river crossings or bridges have been constructed include: Elewonta in Iwo, Olomu stream in Irewole local government, Iree Polytechnic road in Boripe, Olukesi farm – Oju Eri in Boluwaduro Local Government, Ipon Stream in Odo-Otin, Odo Owere in Ede North Local Government, Gbalefe road, Modakeke in Ife East, as well as Oke-Aho stream located at Sekona in Ife North Local Government.

    Others are: Faweri River in Ife South Local Government, Ogbaagba Ogudu, Odo Oroki in Obokun Local Government, Opa Bridge in Odunrin via Ipetumodu, Oyile River in Ilasetown, Oyi Adunni in Oke-Ila among others.

    The impact of RAMP intervention on rural roads in Osun cannot be overemphasised as most of the rural dwellers are now happier, going by the fact that they are now able to do what they know how to do best with much ease.

    Gone are the days when they have to trek long distance of unmotorable roads before they get to their farms, transporting their produce to the market is now much easier and the various rural markets are now much more busy than it used to be, simply because a lot of farmers can now bring their goods to the market.

    Some traders spoken to on some rural market days across the state testified to the fact that they now make good business as a result of the roads leading to their various markets now in good condition, saying that they now get a lot of patronage from people living in urban centres.

    Food and beverage vendors in the communities now make more money as more people visit the rural areas as a result of good roads; urban dwellers are now able to frequent the rural communities without the fear of bad roads damaging their vehicles.

    Lumbering activities in most of the rural communities have also increased tremendously because their trucks no longer get stuck in the mud during rainy season.

    New private schools as well as filling stations now spring up on a daily basis in most of the rural communities. This is because the roads are now motorable. The volume of cars plying the roads is now more than it used to be. Good roads, as they say, truly aid the rapid development of an area.

    Some of the roads rehabilitated and constructed by Osun RAMP include: 13.7km Agbowu-Aba Onile roads, 13.73km Ogbaagba-Eleru-Bode Osi roads, 3.1km Asa-Dagbolu-Ajagunlase road, the 12.73km Ikonifin-Sade-Ajagunlase road, 11.1km Agoro-Ikonifin road, the 4.38km Pataara-Ileko Oba farm settlement road and the 4.38km Akinyele-Aba Ayo-Isero road.

    Others are: 3.91km Eeleke-Kanko road, 10.5km Jagun Osi/Onikoko-Osi-Sooko Road, 9.3km Ara Joshua-Yinmi Oja road, 10.9km Gbengbeleku junction-Owode Amu road, 39.164km Shasha road, the 3km Ilesa-Ilo Olomo boundary, 8.8km Ilesa-Odogbo-Igbowiwi road, 6.58km Odogbo-Iwara road.

    Also touched by the intervention are roads such as the 1km Isale general township road in Ilesa, the 10.5km Isale General Hospital-Muroko-Okebode road, 10.7km Ira-Ikeji ile-Oligeri-Iragbiji road, Ira-Ibete road, Ikeji Arakeji-Aikulola road, the 10.8km Idiroko/Akinyele farm settlement, the 18.7km Mokore farm settlement road, 30km Orile Owu-Ago Owu-Ogedengbe road, 20km Alaguntan forest reserve road among others.

    And just recently, precisely in November, the government of Osun took its drive to opening Osun to the world through road infrastructure flagged off the construction of another 1kilometer access road to Olumirin Water Falls in Erin Ijesa being sponsored by the state government with the implementation carried out by Osun RAMP.

    The solution to the current economic downturn the nation as whole is facing is the opening of rural roads that leads to farm settlements and Osun RAMP is doing just that in the Osun State.

     

    • Omoyeni is of Osun State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Osogbo.

  • Ogun to resume rehabilitation of rural roads

    The Ogun State government has assured rural dwellers that it will re-embark on the rehabilitation of rural roads in the state as soon as the rains subside.

    The Permanent Secretary. Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Kayode Ademolake, made this known in a  statement signed by the agency’s Press Officer, Mr. Ayokunle Ewuoso.

    According to the statement, government has already rehabilitated over 1,235 kilometres of rural roads with culverts across the 20 local government areas of the state.

    “A lot has been done on rural roads, there is heavy down pour, most rural roads are hard tones and if you grade rural roads during the rainy season it would amount to waste of public funds. Immediately the rain stops we would move in and start grading of all these roads,” the statement read in part.

    Ademolake assured that the Ministry would continue to carry out construction and rehabilitation of roads within the state, adding that 30 kilometres road in Ijebu-Ode-Epe garage passing through Idowa to Ilese had been rehabilitated.

    “We have moved to the junction at Sagamu-Benin Express road and Ogbere this is a distance of about 10 kilometres. In recent times too we have had cause to carry out palliative works in Abeokuta metropolis which included Adatan to Lafenwa road and others too numerous to mention in order to ensure that our roads are motor able this rainy season,” he explained.

    He said the state, through the ministry, is trying to repair the damaged portion of the bridge at Adigbe road in Obafemi- Owode Local Government Area, which links Obada across the river Ogun. The damage occurred as a result of river Ogun’s encroachment on the embankment of the bridge.

  • Enugu to build three rural roads

    The Enugu State Government is to re-construct three important rural roads in partnership with five local government areas.

    The approval for the reconstruction was given at the State Economic Planning Commission meeting chaired by Governor Sullivan Chime and attended by the 17 council chairmen.

    The Commissioner for Information, Chuks Ugwoke, told reporters that the government will contribute 70 per cent of the total contract sum while the benefiting council area will pay 30 per cent.

    The roads include the 18 kilometre Amokwe junction – Umabi, Ehuhe Achi

    – Nkpokolo Achi Court road – within Udi and Oji River and the Afor