Nigeria House of Representatives has called on the Buhari led federal government to construct Ibadan-Ife-Ilesha road to Iwaraja junction in Oyo State.
The house is urging the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to as a matter of urgency commence the rehabilitation of the bad road.
Meanwhile, the House has also mandated its Committees on Appropriations, Finance and Works to include the reconstruction of Iloko Ijesha to Ibadan-Ife-Illesha highway in the 2022 budget estimates.
The house also mandated its Committees on Police Affairs and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to liaise with relevant security and regulatory agencies to ensure the safety of commuters on the Ibadan-Ife-Illesha federal highway and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
Hon. Lawrence Babatunde Ayeni had made a motion at the plenary on Monday which was adopted by the house. the lawmaker said in the motion that that the Federal Executive Council (FEC), on September 25, 2019, approved the sum of N109.4 billion for the construction of Ibadan-Ilesha-Ife and Kano-Katsina (Phase two) dual carriageways, stressing that out of the total amount approved, the sum of N79.8 billion, which covers a distance of 112 kilometres, was approved for the Ibadan-Ilesha-Ife dual carriageway.
According toAyeni, the lawmakers are aware that the Minister of Works and Housing affirmed that the Ibadan-Ilesha-Ife highway is one of the busiest roads in the country in terms of traffic volume, they were also aware that the high rate of road accidents on the road is a result of its dilapidated state, and the criminals on the road, especially at Iwaraja junction, have taken advantage of the deplorable state of the road to carry out their criminal activities.
The lawmaker is however worried that 13 months after the FEC approval, no visible construction has been carried out on the road which was awarded to Kopek Construction Company with a three-year completion period.
