Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has directed the Ministry of Works to join the contractor presently working on ilawe-Ado road to commence immediate rehabilitation on the caved portion.
The governor gave the directive when he paid an on the spot assessment to the bad portion of the road in Ilawe Ekiti.
The Governor explained that every machinery had been put in place to fix the road back for use due to its strategic importance to the state.
Governor Fayemi was accompanied by the officials of the ministry of works, the Alawe, Oba Adebanji Ajibade-Alabi, and the lawmaker representing the area, Mrs Yemisi Ayokunle, inspected the failed portion and linked it to Climate Change.
He said government was not unaware of the state of the Ilawe-Ado road and was leaving no stone unturned at ensuring its suitability.
The governor urged the people to take climate change seriously adding that the failed portion of the road was largely one of the effects of climate change.
“This is another evidence why we must take climate change very seriously when I heard of it this morning I even thought it was the other failed portion which we had already contracted out to the original contractor that was affected but it turned out that it is another part of the road that has now failed.
“This is a state road, we will take some preliminary measures to restore the road back to some reasonable use but we don’t want to be precipitated about our approach to dealing with this problem. We are going to get our engineers in the ministry of works, to work with the contractor, to do a geotechnical survey of the area affected. we will do a survey of at least 500 meters around this entire axis so that we know what is happening underneath the asphalted area in order to deal with it effectively.
“The important thing is pending the time this is being fixed alternative road will be made available via igede, toward Iyin for those who wants to get to Ado. It is a very important road to us in the state and that is understandable serving as alternative road for those who wants to get outside the state either towards Ilesha, Igbara odo, Igbara oke, Akure or those who want it as a short cut to other communities and farmland in this area not to mention Ilawe community itself that is going to be most affected by this unfortunate development.
“But I want to assure Kabiyesi and all the people of Ilawe Ekiti that Government is not unaware of this that was why I came to check it myself and the contractor has already come I believe is bringing his extracavator and other equipment to start work immediately on this.” He said.
In his remarks, the Alawe, Oba Adebanji Ajibade-Alabi, appreciated the quick response of the state government to the incident, urging road users to show understanding.
Also, the member of the State House of Assembly for Ekiti South-West Constituency one, Mrs Yemisi Ayokunle said that she had raised the state of the road at the Hallowed Chamber, thanked the governor for coming to the rescue.