Govt approves repair of Ekiti, Kwara link road
From Jide Olatuyi (Abuja) and Ifedayo Sayo (Ekiti)
TO check further loss of lives and property on the road, the Federal Government has ordered the immediate rehabilitation of Ado-Ekiti-Omu-Aran-Kwara border highway.
Three of the bridges on the road would cost about N100 million while work on it is expected to begin next week.
Works Minister, Adeseye Ogunlewe, disclosed this on Monday while receiving the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayo Fayose in Abuja.
Ogunlewe said it was unfortunate that students of Ekiti State University died in a motor accident on the road last week.
Fayose had told the minister that two of the four victims were from the same parents.
Three construction companies have been contracted to execute the project.
The governor said: "The Ado-Ekiti-Omu-Aran-Kwara border road is narrow. The repair of the road and the bridge is long overdue. The students in solidarity with their late colleagues took over the Ado-Ekiti University, demanding that the bridge be repaired immediately.
"I feel it is time for me to run here and seek for the urgent repair of the road. I need your support to preserve peace and tranquillity in the state. I am appealing to the Federal Government to do something immediately so that I can return to the state with a good message to the students", Fayose said.
Ogunlewe disclosed that "immediately the incident happened, he (governor) called me on phone and I also quickly called the Director of Highways and the Federal Controller of Works in the state to have a quick inspection of the road so that we can solve the problem immediately.
"We had called a meeting of all the officers connected with the road project. We have decided that an immediate action be taken to ensure that the road is completed. As I am talking now, the matter has received the attention of Mr. President, who is also concerned. He has given the directive to begin the rehabilitation of the road and the construction of at least three of the five bridges with immediate effect".
Meanwhile, students of the University of Ado-Ekiti on Monday staged a procession round the state capital, Ado-Ekiti, in honour of their late colleagues who died in the road accident.
The students, led by the union president, Mr. Tony Nwaze, marched through the streets of the state capital in black attires, singing a dirge and the procession disrupted the movement of vehicles on the streets.
Some commercial vehicles were allegedly hijacked by the students to convey them to the houses of the deceased where they went to commiserate with their (late students') families.
They also called on the Federal and Ekiti State Governments to urgently reconstruct the narrow bridge where the students had lost their lives.
