Oyo State Government on Monday directed the contractor handling the Moniya-Iseyin road to begin repair works on the flooded section of the road.
It would be recalled that road users waited hours last Friday as flood took over a section of the reconstructed N9.9 billion Moniya-Iseyin road by the Seyi Makinde administration.
According to a statement by the state’s commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Wasiu Olatunbosun on Tuesday, the government’s directive was as a result of complaints from motorists plying the road, whose movements were restricted by the flood that crossed the road, which prompted the officials of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to embark on an immediate inspection tour to the area to assess the level of damage on the affected area.
Olatunbosun explained that the road which was commissioned by May 2021 has been a relief to the people of Oke-Ogun and its environs as it has allowed them to travel within less period from Ibadan to Iseyin, as different from the situation before the reconstruction.
In the statement, he added that during the inspection at chinage 47.750km of the road, the Commissioner for Public Works and Transport, Professor Dahud Kehinde Sangodoyin made it known that the cause of the damages was a result of the continuous heavy rain due to climate change and that It was not particular to only Oyo State, but all over the world.
The Commissioner explained that “we were informed that during the heavy downpour on Thursday and Friday, there were some issues as the water overflew and caused some damages by the side road, we are here to examine and assess what happened and what can be done.
“The first thing discovered is the overflow because the culverts there have been sealed up by mud, then the chainage that should be able to address the free flow of water has a problem on the other side of the road, it is not new because there is climate change all over the world, so we should prepare for it, not only in Oyo State but Nigeria as a whole.
“Work will start on it today, on the right-hand side, the channelization and on the left-hand side, retaining the walls and shifting of the culvert, in the long term, during the dry season, if we find out from weather forecast that we will have a heavy rainfall like this next year we will have to change the size of the culvert.
“The Consultant and the Contractor are with me to assess it together and we found out that it is not a serious issue but climate change that is affecting everybody all over the world, including vegetation and other things.
“I have instructed the contractor to mobilize their machine immediately so that the work can start on the channelization and to retain the wall and I can assure you that the work will start before we finish the inspection, I am assuring our people that our road is intact as it was when commissioned last year, the only damage there is on the shoulder and from today, work will start on it so that it will not hit on the road”, the statement reads.
