A prominent engineer, environmentalist, politician and community leader in Igbe road, Engr. Kunle Oduborisha, is among the unhappy residents complaining about government’s side-tracking of their strategic road to Oreyo and Ewu Elepe.
Oriwu Sun met this ex Chevron Environmental Engineer while covering the progress of work on the state sponsored highway from Ebute to Igbogbo, down to Oreyo. Engr. Oduborisha coincidentally was inspecting work on an alternative road he and other residents were rehabilitating to assuage the damage done to the road from Igbe junction, along Ikorodu, to Igbogbo road.
He commented on the road project by the State as well as other related issues, and how some well-meaning Ikorodu indigenes outside Igbogbo, such as Hon. Jimi Benson, Hon. Nurudeen Solaja, among others, assisted his community to mitigate the abandonment of the main Igbe road. Below is the full interview the Engineer cum Politician granted our editors, Mr. Chuma Adichie, Kazim Ganiu Sanni and Waleola Kolawole.
Q: What is the cause of the grading work that is going on now, is it part of the state government’s project to link Ebute with Ginti?
A: This is through personal efforts involving myself and three other people. We have generously contributed over a million naira, which we have expended on this project so far. We have foreseen that we are now in the middle of the dry season and if we can do this palliative in the harmattan season, it would help us when rain starts. The state government has now put a stop on Igbe road construction.
Q: Are you saying the road construction the government approved from Ebute-Igbogbo road to Ginti is not the proper Igbe road that the residents are yearning for its construction?
A: Igbe road proper was constructed by the first civilian administration in Lagos State, led by Alhaji Lateef Jakande. The road is from Igbe junction of Igbogbo down to Ginti, which is the junction of Ijede road. The vision of Alhaji Jakande was to connect those three towns, Igbogbo, Ijede and Imota, without traversing through Ikorodu. That was the main reason the social driver that drove that project was called Irepodun local government, which formed a slope for those three towns. The secretariat head quarter was at Ewu-Elepe.
You can see that it was central to Imota, Ijede and Igbogbo. The road was the best road in Ikorodu division. That was what induced me to buy land here and build a house. Then, most people were coming to this road to do driving test. It was wide with drainages on both sides.
Subsequent administrations tried their best to improve on what Jakande had done but to no avail. It was one of the first letters I wrote to Tinubu that brought improvements on this Igbe road in 2001.
In my letter, I stated the commercial and social advantage of this road as it affects the entire community including Ikorodu, Irepodun and others who go through Ikorodu to Igbogbo. By then, it was impassable. Before the expiration of Bola Tinubu’s administration, the road contract was awarded. Fashola was not able to do something about it and Ambode has now started constructing it from Ebute (at the end of Igbogbo Cemetry) to Ginti. If you go there now, you will see much property that have been destroyed. So, government is doing so now to avoid people facing hardships during the rainy season. That was why three other landlords and professionals including myself, put money down resulting to what you are seeing here today.
Q: Do you think that the government is wrong to have bypassed Igbe road proper in their construction.
A: I won’t go that far. I believe any government that is responsible government is the government of the people by the people.
I think the government has its own reason for choosing to go the route it has gone but I believe that before the end of this administration, they will think about this area. Constructing the Igbe-road proper would complement whatever government is doing but without doing it, it would deface what they are doing.
Q: What do you think the government can still do at this stage?
A: I think that the government should not hesitate to come and do some palliative work on Igbe road. This is because it would become a bypass and I think we would appreciate that pending the time when they would come back for the redesigning of the road.
Q: What exactly are you doing on this Igbe road proper now?
A: To avert rapid erosion of the road, we are trying to create drainage path for the water to flow through. Secondly, we are planning to put some cross bar to control the heavy duty vehicles that are responsible for major destruction on our roads. We will try to prevent them from plying this road.
On the contrary, heavy duty vehicles would be expected to pay some tokens with which to maintain the road. We have not finalized that yet until we finish what we are doing. Those doing the work with me include Engr. Bisoye, Alhaji Fatai, Hon. Jimi Benson and Gbajumo also contributed money towards the execution of the project.
Even though, some of them don’t live in this community, they still gave us money for the road repair. Now, we have enough money to carry out what we planned to do on this road and other money we get would still be used judiciously.
Q: Did you call the attention of Igbogbo/Baiyeku LCDA?
A: We called the chairman of the council on phone and sent text to him but he did not respond. However, the constitution of Nigeria empowers and encourages us to do what we are doing.
Q: Is the route chosen by the state government the best alternative considering the impact it will have on the people, either negative or positive?
A: The route chosen by the government is not the best alternative. Igbe road is the best alternative because it would have had minimum negative impact on the people in terms of destruction of properties in the right of way. I think in terms of all kinds of standards, including World Bank, it was not complied with.
I would have loved to get in touch with the Governor but I do not have even his e-mail address. He is a politician and he is working with civil servants. You know they can mislead him in some decision making. That project is not the best alternative.
Q: Besides this road, what other things do you desire that state government offer you in this area?
A: This entire area from Igbe junction to Ginti is about nine miles or ten kilometres. It is the longest road in an urban area in Lagos State and you can see the explosions of population.
Either you go to Offin or Baiyeku and to other extended villages all the way to Ginti. You can see the massive development and unplanned houses. I think we need a General Hospital in this area. Ikorodu is due for more than one General hospital.
The last time we counted the number of beds in the General hospital, it was sixty and even with the expansion here and there, can one hundred beds satisfy us. We are more than five million people in Ikorodu division and such hospital facility cannot cater for all of us.
At the time of Lateef Jakande, he built the General hospital and he improved Ijede General Hospital built by the military and he gave us water across the local governments in Lagos State.
Now, we have none. Government needs to come to the aid of the people. The only source of portable water is to drill a Borehole in your homes. This area is due for water works, which is a requirement by World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC). They are the sources of financing for projects.
We also need good health facilities, portable water and good schools. We should improve on schools by ensuring that no child would go too far from his or her neighbourhood to go to school. Government has the right to acquire land as long as it is for the people’s use.