The l50-kilometer Oyo-Ogbomosho highway is central for the movement of goods, especially farm produce, from northern Nigeria to the South West. However, this once-smooth transport corridor is now threatening to hamper economic trade and commerce due to the decaying state of the road.
Recent congestion along the old Oyo-Ogbomoso highway has left many truck and trailer drivers, as well as motorists, stranded and frustrated. For many travellers along the axis, plying the highway has become a nightmare with excruciating pain and fear.
Accidents, according to travellers, have become a daily occurrence, with many expressing fear that the long wait on gridlocks by fuel-laden tankers could threaten the safety of drivers and communities along the axis. This is in addition to the huge losses incurred from perishable goods that get rotten while drivers are forced to wait for days whenever there is a traffic jam.
Our correspondent recently took a trip to Ogbomosho and observed motorists’ seemingly unending struggle to navigate the highway amidst its deteriorating conditions. Motorists narrated several instances of getting stranded for days due to the gridlock, causing congestion and strains on heavy-duty trucks, some of which break down at strategic portions of the road.
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But this reporter gathered that congestion on the Ogbomosho-Oyo expressway is not new. In October last year, residents and traditional leaders cried out to the federal government to fix the road. The Senate had immediately summoned the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to explain the situation on the road.
However, many truck drivers say not much has changed since then. Those transporting food items from the North to the South West, especially Lagos, Oyo and Ogun states, as well as those transporting consumer goods and other commodities like petroleum products from Lagos to the North, expressed frustration over the poor state of the road. Many of them blamed it on the “neglect” of the road project” which has been ongoing for more than a decade.
Weekend Trust toured several locations where drivers struggled to navigate their way and found that several trucks had broken down due to the bad state of the road while others had fallen on their side in an attempt to navigate rough portions.
This reporter met Malam Yahuza Muhammed, a truck driver whose vehicle broke down at a rocky part, which is under construction, that links the new Ogbomosho-Oyo highway to the old Ogbomosho Road.
Malam Muhammed, who was conveying perishable items told Weekend Trust that he had been stranded on the same spot for two days after his vehicle broke down.
“I loaded perishables from Kano State to Mile 12 market in Lagos. Since the old Ogbomosho-Oyo Road is in very bad condition, we used to divert to the new highway and the road that links us to the new highway is not good, it is full of rocks. I was trying to navigate through the road when I got into a hole and hit a rock and the truck had a problem. The gear of the truck is now faulty,” he said.
“It is not the best but we don’t have a choice because if you are traveling to Oyo through the old road, you will spend days without reaching your destination. This is because of the long stretch of the traffic jam, and the highway that is being built is not yet completed,” Muhammad explained.
He said the new Ogbomosho-Oyo Road that is under construction appears to have been abandoned.
This reporter did not see any sign of site engineers or construction materials as at the time of the visit in early January. It was also observed that construction materials had been removed.
Malam Yahuza Muhammed said the situation appears to be manageable during the dry season, because a faulty truck during the rainy season makes the situation worse. It could completely block the road.
“Food, especially vegetables get rotten, livestock die,” he said and urged the Federal Government to complete the road project.
Malam Bala Musa is a truck driver who has been plying Nigerian roads for decades. He has been driving trucks to Lagos since the 1970s; a time he said the roads had fewer cars and trucks.
“The roads were in good condition, unlike today,” he said, adding that “at that time, if you leave Kaduna at 6pm, you would enter Lagos by 6am the next morning.”
“But things have changed now. Only in Mokwa, Niger State, we spend two days in a gridlock and you still come here to face the same thing,” he said.
Malam Musa explained that lately, the gridlock has eased a bit compared to what was experienced months before.
“But the major challenge we have here is the road project that has been abandoned. That is why you see people making detours here and there on the highway, because if you go there, you’d spend days on the gridlock, and this is a major road that was started decades ago.”
“If you notice, there are no workers or equipment on the site. In the past, they tried to break some rocks so that the road could be connected to the old one and be easier to cross, but this has not been completed,” he said.
The truck driver narrated how he spent four days on a journey from Kano to Lagos, adding that the deterioration of the country’s roads is costing motorists dearly and putting their lives in danger.
“Apart from the loss of property, the deterioration of the roads gives opportunity to bandits to commit acts of terrorism. Now, every evening, a driver cannot pass from Gambari, that is Sabo Odo-Oba to Ogbomosho to Ilorin, because of criminals on the road.”
Ibrahim Danladi Tanko, one of the leaders of the Arewa community in Odoba village, located between Oyo and Ogbomosho, told this reporter that construction equipment at an area called Okeba has been moved out because construction work has stopped.
“Our vehicles get damaged during the rainy and dry seasons. Also, in Iliyabu, Ajao Local Government Area, there are other areas where the road is under construction or repair but work has stopped, causing loss of property in addition to lives,” he said.
The community leader said the deplorable state of the road has been the cause of many accidents on the route, adding that “Our government has not been responsive to our plights, there is no repair work being done now; it stopped since President Muhammadu Buhari left office.”
Tunde Raji, a truck mechanic who lives in Sagamu, Ogun State, and goes to Ogbomosho regularly to repair trucks, said the truck he hitched a ride on from Sagamu to Ogbomosho the previous day was attacked around Sabo Odo-Oba, which is between Oyo and Ogbomosho.
“We were on our way when we were attacked. If the road was in good condition, there would have been no way for such criminals to operate freely,” Raji said and urged the federal government to fix the road which he described as the only alternative.
Our correspondent reports that the contract for the 44.5km Oyo-Ogbomosho highway was awarded during the civilian administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, but has not been completed.
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