By Adenitan Akinola. B.A,LL.B ACArb).
The incumbent Governors of Osun State, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola and Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde have again made history as they jointly flagged off the reconstruction of the 91 KM Osogbo/Iwo/Ibadan roads awarded in September 2022 in April 2023 by the two sister states.
The two neighboring states agreed to reconstruct 35.6 kilometres from Oyo state end and 55.4 kilometers Osun part to promote inter-trade relationships between them.
The Osun State Government awarded the 55.4km Osogbo (Dele Yes Sir Roundabout) – Iwo – Papa Village (Osun/Oyo Boundary) with Dualisation of 2.8km Dele Yes Sir Roundabout to Sawmill, Osogbo, at a contract sum of N11.3billion, while the Oyo State Government awarded the 35.6km Iwo Road Interchange (Ibadan) – Olodo Bridge – Lalupon – Papa Village (Oyo/Osun Boundary) at a contract sum of N12.5billion.
The road is to be completed in 18 months.
Speaking with newsmen at the boundary of Oyo and Osun State,while creating alternative road for motorists, the Managing Director, Peculiar Consult and Peculiar Ultimate Concerns Limited, Engr Lanre Adeleke, said that the project was a 91KM road being funded by Oyo and Osun governments.
Findings indicate that the Ibadan-Iwo road was last constructed in 1977 having been awarded to Soleh Boneh Nig. Ltd by the defunct Oyo state military administration of General David Jemibewon, while the Iwo-Osogbo phase of the road which was also awarded in 1977 was reportedly bedeviled by various factors culminating in it’s passing through shades of contractors( TWZ Construction, Tewogbade and Sons and POAT Construction Company) before it was finally delivered in 1990.
Alas, as early as a year later, the road began to deteriorate compelling the newly created Osun State to engage in repairs through its Multi State Road Project II
When the needed relief was far from being achieved, the state government later commissioned an engineering firm, Competence Engineer, to come to the rescue. When the company could not deliver as charged, the Geotechnical and Structural Unit of the State Ministry of Works and Transport was, in the year 2000, drafted-in by Chief Bisi Akande, the state governor at the time.
The administration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Akande’s immediate successor, also made frantic effort to fix the road when he engaged the services of Dekit Construction Company Limited and Centre for Research and Development (CERAD) of the Federal University of Technology, Akure.
The eight year administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State and that of his Oyo State counterpart, Senator Abiola Ajimobi offered no respite, just as was the case of the controversial Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, which was then co-owned by the time states.
Upon assumption of office in the later part of 2018, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola demonstrated resolve to fix the road when he mobilised for immediate repairs of the Osun axis of the road while he sought for an enduring solution to fixing the road.
Today, the undoubted maturity, statesmanship, thoughtfulness, humility and resilience of Mr Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State and Engr Seyi Makinde of Oyo State as well as the credibility and dependability of the contracting firm, Peculiar Ultimate Concern have unarguably brought a lasting solution to the problem of over thirty years which has adversely affected the livelihood and economy of the people.
The reconstruction of Osogbo/Iwo/Ibadan road is another testimony of the impeccable characters and maturity of the incumbent governors of Oyo and Osun States who, despite being members of opposing political parties (APC-Osun/PDP-Oyo) placed the overall interest and happiness of their people above primordial and retrogressive partisan consideration, just as they did in resolving the over three decades LAUTHEC ownership impasse which could not be resolved while the two states were under same Political parties in 1999-2003, 2003-2011, 2011-2018/19, was resolved in less than two years under the Oyetola/Makinde leadership.
Adenitan Akinola (B.A, LL.B, ACArb)