Landlords and residents of the Orimerunmu community located off the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State are lamenting the damage allegedly done to their only access road by the trucks of sand dredgers.
Our correspondent learnt from some of the residents that a dredging company claimed to have a licence from the state government to dredge sand from the river at the end of the community and started to scoop out sharp sand from the river.
Since then, according to the residents, the presence of the dredging company led to an influx of heavy-duty trucks into their community, which in turn destroyed the roads within the community.
One of the residents, Abdul Taofeek, said they had written many times to the local government chairman and the state government over the poor state of their road without any respite.
He said, “The Orimerunmu road is in a very poor state due to the heavy trucks that come here and we have notified the local and state governments about it.
“All these started when trucks that convey sand from one company that is dredging sand at the back of our community started coming in.
“Before then, our community’s road was good but if you see the state of the road now, even motorcycles can hardly move smoothly on it. We are begging the Ogun State Government to help us and find a solution to this thing.”
Another resident, Oladimeji Salau, told our correspondent that when the sand dredgers came with their equipment five years ago, members of the community did not know that they would experience any problems due to their operations.
“Five years ago, some sand dredgers came here and started to dredge sharp sand from the river at the back of our community and when we challenged them, they said they got a permit from the Ogun State Government and nobody said anything but look at the way that they have destroyed our roads now. We are begging the local and state governments to come to our aid by constructing the road for us,” he said.
Another resident, Ariyo Sulaimon, said, “Sometimes, trucks fall due to the poor state of the road and despite our cries to the local and state governments, nothing has been done so far.”
Contacted, a consultant to the state governor on media, Kayode Akinmade, said, “The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has directed the local government chairmen in the state to make a list of their major roads the state government would rehabilitate and construct and parts of the directives are that they should liaise with the CDAs, community youths, market leaders and stakeholders for the identification of the major roads that need the government’s attention.
“We are still expecting them to do so but the Ogun State Government is ready to work on three major roads in every community in every local government that make up the state.”
