Kwara Community calls for intervention over deplorable Omu-Aran–Iloffa–Eruku–Egbe–Kabba roads

The people of the Iloffa communities in the Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara State have cried out over the deplorable conditions of the Omu-Aran–Iloffa–Eruku–Egbe–Kabba federal roads, describing the situation as a death trap that has crippled economic and social activities in the area.

The Alofa of Iloffa, Oba (Engr.) Samuel Niyi Dada (JP), in a statement on behalf of the community, said the collapsed road has negatively affected the living standards of residents and caused significant economic losses.

The traditional ruler lamented that several sections of the road are presently in a shocking state of disrepair, characterized by deep potholes, gullies, and muddy portions where vehicles get bogged down and travelers are trapped for hours.

He said motorists plying the route now face untold hardship daily, with cases of burst tyres, broken axles, and other damage to vehicles becoming commonplace.

The monarch noted that the road is not only hindering vehicular movement, with transporters and commuters lamenting daily losses, but the situation has also become almost impassable to pedestrians due to a lack of proper maintenance, rehabilitation, and total abandonment for a long period.

Dada noted that this ugly development has created additional pressure on township roads as vehicles are forced to divert from the federal road into Iloffa township roads, which have also failed completely during the rainy season due to a lack of maintenance and dangerous gullies posing a danger to commuters and pedestrians, particularly children.

According to the monarch, the deplorable condition has forced many commercial transporters to abandon the route, while those still plying it have resorted to charging exorbitant fares, inflicting more hardship on passengers, especially farmers who are desperate to move their agricultural produce to markets.

He further noted that Iloffa, a major agrarian community, is worst hit, as farm produce such as yam, cassava, maize, vegetables, and other cash crops now rot on farms due to the inability to transport them on time.

The first-class traditional ruler added that the badly damaged portions, worsened by the rains, have forced drivers to seek detours through lonely forest paths where they are exposed to kidnapping and attacks by bandits, a situation he said has led to the loss of lives and further crippled commercial activities.

The Kabiyesi said the 143-kilometer road stretch from Ilorin to Egbe through Omu-Aran, Iloffa, and Eruku, which used to take a maximum of two hours, now takes seven to eight hours, and sometimes a whole day. Commuters are sometimes stranded overnight among tipped-over trailers, he lamented, a trend that has heightened the already severe security threat to residents and travelers.

The revered traditional ruler also said the road has disrupted education and academic activities along its corridors, as students resuming for the new academic session find it difficult to access their schools.

He called on all tiers of government, local, state, and federal to urgently take necessary action, appealing to President Bola Tinubu, the Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, and Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to come to the community’s aid.

The Alofa described the road as a critical artery for commerce and movement between Kwara and Kogi states en route to Abuja from this axis, and lamented that its continued neglect is strangling the people economically while constituting a serious security threat to lives and property.

He expressed the readiness of the Iloffa community to support government efforts aimed at ensuring a decent and comfortable livelihood for residents, irrespective of religion, culture, and ethnic affiliation, while warning that if urgent palliative and reconstruction work is not carried out before the peak of the rainy season, the community risks total cutoff from neighboring towns, with dire consequences for food security and the safety of lives.