Osinbajo landed in Akure Airport, boarded a chopper over deplorable Akure-Ikere-Ado road to attend Ekiti summit

Ilesanmi AdekanbiOctober 14, 2021

2 minutes read

The residents of Ondo and Ekiti States have lamented on Thursday after the Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo failed to pass the Akure-Ikere-Ado highway to Ekiti State capital from Akure airport.

The residents had hoped that Osinbajo might pass through the highway to have a fill of the agonies they had been going through on a daily basis on the road which might facilitate the reconstruction of the road.

The Vice President who landed at the Akure Airport was seen to have boarded a standby chopper which conveyed him and some other top government officials to attend the Ekiti State Investment and Economic Summit in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

With the chopper taking between 10 to 12 minutes to fly from Akure, the Ondo State capital to Ado-Ekiti, the Akure-Ikere-Ado highway takes about 30 minutes drive if the highway was in good condition.

With the bad state of the road, motorists and other road users had been spending about two hours or more on the road linking the two-state capitals.

Apart from Osinbajo, those prominent governments attended the Ekiti State Investment and Economic Summit and boarded chopper from Akure Airport includes; Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo Olu; Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki and Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai

Other includes the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo; British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Ben Liewellyn-Jones; Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Mr Emeka Offor and Director-General of Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN), Mr Seye Oyeleye.

Newsflash Nigeria had a few weeks ago reported how residents of both states berated both the federal government and the two-state governors for turning a blind eye on the road amid series of assurances that it would be fixed.

Both Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti and his Ondo State counterpart, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had severally assured that the road which had for long been in a bad shape had been marked for dualization with both governors inspecting the road a few months back, a development which raised the hope of everyone.

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Newsflash Nigeria reports that last week Friday, travellers were stranded along the Ado-Ikere-Akure road on account of the bad stretch of the roads.

Akure -Ikere- Ado road — **This place is located opposite Quarry Site, Samchase Nig LTD, at Itaogbolu, Akure-Ikere-Ado highway.**

Newsflash Nigeria gathered that travelling within or through Ekiti State on the Federal Government roads has continued to become a difficult task for the motorists and travellers following the level of the deplorable condition of many of the roads.

As a matter of fact, travelling on the affected roads, which ordinarily should not be more than one hour within the state is, now taking at least two or three hours for the travellers to reach their various destinations. This has been a great challenge for the stakeholders, especially the road users. As it is now, there seems to be no clear difference between the rural area roads and some major roads in the Ekiti State, particularly during the rainy season.

Unfortunately, the bad condition of the roads has been aiding criminal activities as the bandits now utilise the expressways as a trap to kidnap the helpless travellers.