Oke-Aro /Matogbun Road:Another open sore in a state of untaped potentials

By Tunde Abatan

That the major part of boundary roads linking Ogun State with Lagos is underdeveloped is no longer news.What many may not  know is that the road linking highways with Lagos are suffering from utter neglect and underdevelopment.

Yet,a trip inside the inner recesses of such roads like Oke Aro-Matogbun Road,  links the area with Ogun River and it’s undeveloped boundary with Lagos Ibadan expressway.

Matogboun/Oke-Aro Road in pictures

On this road an average of 1000 vehicles of all sorts ply the road everyday besides the thousands of Okada riders…an avenue through which touts masquerading as transport union makes hundreds of thousands of naira from road users.
The population of this axis conservatively put cannot be less than two million being a linkage to several other communities.
Besides,the human traffic,the number of private schools on this axis alone is in their hundreds while hundreds of thousands of students in primary and secondary schools commutes within and without on a daily basis.
For, Tanimowo OladeIe,a graduate of mechanical engineering from the University of Lagos,and proprietor of Isaac Newton, a government recognised private nursery, primary and secondary school situated along the road, the passion to fix the road is as consuming as his passion for teaching, which he has done in high brow schools for almost three decades.

As the proprietor of Isaac Newton, the environment of the school itself speaks volume of a man who had spent greater part of his life nurturing students in high brow International schools from where he dropped the chalk to grow his own initiative, hitherto being managed by his wife.
It was indeed his last few years leaving the comfort of his paid job to grew an educational institution in this environment that has spurred him to gather people of like minds in a determined effort to fill a huge infrastructural vacuum the state government has failed to do in the past two decades .
His long term vision, he told Newdawnnngr.com,is to make Oke- Aro-Matogbun Road motorable at all times of the year in spite of government neglect over the years.

As for him, he is posed to do this for as long as government failed to live up to its responsibility of making commuting an easy task for the population he put at conservatively five million residents.This he said is obvious from the numerous schools,houses and other institutions that dot the neglected communities.

Tanimowo spoke on his efforts in the last 25 months and how he has been able to gather key high networth individuals , stakehokders and other road users in the area to fix the road and remove the tears and agony of government neglect, which has paralysed mobility since the road collapsed about 10 years ago.
He spoke with Newdawnnngr.com
Excerpts:
What has been your source of strengthen this past few years in spite of various obstacles?

Oladele

I have been able to get the help of high network individuals and some other key stakehokders who have been contributing resources in form of money and materials to make the road motorable.
The high net worth individuals believe in my vision to transform the road and demonstrate their readiness to support.
In view of challenges from in the course of the project,how have you been able to move on?
My strength is derivable from my decision never to give up and knowing fully well that we are committed to continue working to see the road motorable until we see practical demonstration of government willingness and presence through deployment of contractors to the site.
Of what impart has been the Tolling of a section of the road to resources spent on fixing it?
Yes,the Tolls have been a source of regular income to procure materials,mobilise men to fix the road on a daily basis but that avenue has remained stagnant for almost fourteen months now due to many factors.
Initially, when we started,the response of the over one thousand vehicles plying the road was massive as some pay weekly,others monthly while majority pay on a daily basis.
However,those who pay regularly have reduced to 30 percent due to a lot of factors.they were probably expecting government to have moved in to fix the road which ironically is attracting more residents while others who could not cope with the stress are also moving out of the area.
Are you discouraged by this?
Noo.Not at all.Most of the high net worth individuals who are pumping in resources are convinced that, I am committed to the project and they know the limitations we have as regards logistics and finances to fix the road which has practically become an earth road due to the abandonment to maintain the road built over forty years ago. Yet we have high volume of traffic plying the road daily.
For example, the most difficult area in the three kilometre road which have been gulping resources are Owo Iya, Irapada uphill and Foursquare segments on which we spent the bulk of the money we realise to make the areas motorable and keep it motorable all the year round or else we have a total collapse.
We have also been taking loans from individual stakeholders and sources whenever any portion of the road has serious challenges. But it is gratifying that we have been paying back the loans.
What exactly is the volume of traffic on the road like ?
On a good day, we have an average of at least one thousand vehicles especially on Mondays while other days we have eight hundred vehicles besides,motor cycles,tippers and lorries which came to drop materials as a developing area. With close proximity to Lagos where population is bursting to its seems, I wonder why no government has taken it as a serious project.
Asked if the government have since shown interest since the beginning of the private palliative measures in the over two years ,he retorted,”I can confirm to you government officials have come here four times to take measurement of the road but nothing has come out of such visits and inspections”.
Asked how much will take to fix a drainage system to make the road repairs last longer he declared,”with what we have experienced so far,it will take N250 million to construct good drainage system on the three kilometre stretch road.”
But for how long will you continue this unending repairs without government intervention?
We will continue for as long as government delay in fixing the road because it is the only means of linking the area with the outside world and lift the macro- economy on which the socio economic life of thousands of residents depends.
Besides,only physical death could stop us from ensuring the road is motorable and for as long as government refused to do its obligation we won’t fold our arms because the very survival of our business in this environment is dependent on the functionality and viability of this road . As a stakeholder, that won’t happen unless I relocate my business from this environment and it is not an option for me because it is connected with the people as we intend to raise future generations in our school and for the environment.