The leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, on Tuesday disclosed that the federal government has approved the dualistion of Ado-Ekiti-Ikere-Akoko road, a 31-kilometre highway that connects Ekiti State to the Federal Capital Territory through Ondo, Edo and Kogi states.
Recall that workers and students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti had, on Monday, staged a peaceful protest to register their frustrations about the deplorable state of the said road.
Mr Bamidele, who was reacting to the Monday protest in a statement signed by his media office and made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti, said the construction of the highway was already captured in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
The senator said he had spoken about the road reconstruction during a feedback session he had with the Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Afe Babalola on Monday.
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Mr Bamidele said that the Ado-Ekiti-Ikere-Akoko road was one of the 12 federal roads connecting Ekiti State to Kogi, Kwara, Ondo and Osun states, that had suffered neglect even before the democratic transition in 1999.
“With Bamidele’s intervention, however, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the dualisation of the road considering its strategic significance to Ekiti and other states directly and indirectly bordering it. The other federal roads that connect Ekiti to Kogi, Kwara, Ondo and Osun are still deplorable and dilapidated, seriously begging for the attention of the federal and state governments.
“Among others, the roads include Ifaki-Otun road, Ifaki-Ilasa-Omuo road, Ado-Ikere road, Ado-Ijan-Ikare road, Ado-Iyin-Aramoko road, Aramoko-Efon-Ijebu Ijesa road, Efon-Iwaraja and Otun-Erinmope-Odo Owa road,” the statement read.
He explained that the reason for the dualisation of the road “is due to the volume of traffic on this inter-state highway that connects Ekiti to Abuja through Ondo, Edo and Kogi states. It is a decision taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Aside, it is not only that the road was captured in the 2024 Appropriation Act. The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has identified it to the management and staff of the Federal Ministry of Works as a priority federal road, whose reconstruction must take off this fiscal year.
“The federal government has already commenced the design of the road because what was decided was that the road should be dualised from Ejigbo in Ado Ekiti up till 31 kilometres to Ikare Akoko. We will continue from there as a single lane,” the statement said.
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