Ibadan-Ife-Ilesa Expressway: Abandoned critical highway cutting lives short, draining commerce

BOLA BAMIGBOLA, in this report, recounts the harrowing experiences of travellers and drivers navigating the neglected Ibadan-Ife-Ilesa Expressway, bringing their tales of hardship and near-death encounters on the road

FORTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD Tayo Obalorun, a civil engineer, returning to Ile Ife, Osun State, for the first time since graduating from Obafemi Awolowo University in 2005, that fateful Saturday in March, was feeling nostalgic.

Life has been good to him since leaving university and returning to Osun, particularly Ile-Ife, travelling on the Ibadan-Ife-Ilesa Expressway from Lagos, his base, brought back many memories – both pleasant and unpleasant – of struggles to complete his degree programme in the OAU.

Obalorun, oscillating between a nap and being awake, was trying to fend off sleep with a book, ‘Road Trip to Hell’ written by Chris Hughes, as soulful tune of Asa, in her year 2007 single, titled ‘Fire on the Mountain,’ oozed out of a DVD player in his Venza Jeep.

The journey, however, came to an abrupt end not long after his vehicle crossed the Asejire Bridge into Osun State. His driver lost control of the wheel as the vehicle, which was travelling at top speed, ran into a bad portion of the ever-busy road, leading to a near-fatal crash that left both the driver and the passenger seriously injured, with the vehicle badly damaged.

While Obalarun and his driver managed to escape death, though by a skin breath, two other commuters travelling on the same dual-carriage road, heading to Lagos from Ekiti State on Friday, April 5, 2024, were not, as they lost their lives in a fatal crash that occurred before Balogun Village on the highway.

The vehicle involved was suspected to be avoiding a bad portion of the road when it lost control and crashed.

According to the spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Osun State, Kehinde Adeleke, the deceased died at the scene of the accident before they could be moved to any hospital for treatment.

In recent times, the 224-kilometre road that spurs from Iwo Road, Ibadan and ends shortly after International Brewery, Ilesa, where it joins Ilesa-Akure Expressway, has been in a grave state of disrepair.

The Federal Government Trunk A road, which links Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to border towns in Osun State, through to Ilesa, has been a major route for drivers going towards the North and other parts of the country, preferring to pass through Ondo State.

Tagged one of the most dangerous highways in Osun State, motorists, especially public transport operators plying the road, have been lamenting the dangers they face whenever they are plying the road.

Besides tales of woes of incessant crashes that had led to the loss of lives and caused damage to vehicles, commercial drivers have also been lamenting that most of their earnings are spent on repairing their vehicles due to the bad state of the road.

During a recent visit to the road by The PUNCH, it was observed that the lane that heads to Ibadan from Gbongan Junction was bad, but the lane that comes from Ibadan and goes to Ile-Ife has been largely impassable, riddled with potholes.

It was also observed that repair work was done recently on some bad portions after the Asejire Bridge, but from Naira and Kobo Junction, Ikire, down to Ilesa, the road is in a poor state needing more than spot patching, but a total reconstruction.

For instance, around Naira and Kobo Junction, on Ile-Ife lane, it was observed that repair work was recently done on the road to ensure the free flow of water. Residents, however, still complain that the area always experiences flooding whenever it rains.

Immediately after that, at a point before Balogun Village, the road is almost cut off, forcing motorists to divert and drive against the traffic on the lane heading to Ibadan.

Also, just before Wasinmi, another road-side community located on the highway, there are several ditches on the road, so much so that the situation is being explored by a physically challenged man, who occupies a spot where he stays and parks sand to fill the spots, in a bid to provide temporary relief. Travellers on the road, in appreciation of his efforts, usually give him money.

Shortly after Bisi Akande Trumpet Bridge in Gbongan before Ipetumodu, there are gullies on the road. There are also many potholes before Oduduwa University gate in Ipetumodu.

The Ife-Ilesa corridor of the road also has many potholes, making travelling hellish and exposing commuters to accidents, as well as attacks from robbers who usually hide in bushes close to the bad portions from where they unleash terror on commuters.

At the Moro end of the road, close to RCC Junction, gullies are impeding the free flow of traffic just as potholes also filled the Ife-Ilesa corridor of the dual carriageway.

A cross-section of commercial drivers plying the road, while sharing their experiences, said the poor condition of the highway could only indicate that the Federal Government had abandoned it and thus, leaving people plying it to their fate.

Rasheed Adekunle and Michael Olaribigbe, both of the Lagos Unit of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in Osogbo, said a substantial part of their profits ended up in the pockets of auto mechanics, as their vehicles could not make two trips on the road without being taken to the mechanics for repairs.

Olaribigbe, who said he had been plying the road since 2005, further noted that “a large percentage of my profit goes to the repair of my bus. Even though my vehicle is fairly strong, I also drive carefully.

“It is quite worrisome that a road that is so strategic to the movement of goods and people from the southern part to the North could be left in such a terrible state. Many of my colleagues usually tell me that they are afraid of death whenever they are driving on that road.

“I have nightmares because I have, on many occasions, witnessed accidents on that road. I have seen people killed in accidents. Many people have lost their limbs in crashes on that road. But as a commercial driver that has a family to cater for, I don’t have other options but to go out daily and work.”

Corroborating Olaribigbe, a colleague of the same Lagos Unit, Adekunle, said he was involved in an accident on the road on January 3 this year around Wasinmi, while trying to avoid a bad portion.

“I was trying to avoid a bad portion of the road when another vehicle that was driving against the traffic emerged in front of me. I was heading towards Ikire when it happened. The impact of the accident was, however, minimal because I was not on top speed. Despite that, I suffered a dislocation. The other two passengers who sat in the front seat were also injured. My bus was damaged,” Adekunle said.

A lecturer at the Ikire campus of the Osun State University, living in Osogbo, the state capital, who preferred anonymity because he is a civil servant, said he contemplated changing his job last year because of the huge amount he had been spending on the maintenance of his vehicle which had been badly damaged by potholes on the road.

Also, a resident of Ilesa, who engages in the herbs supply business, Mrs Risikat Ahmed, in an interaction with The PUNCH, said she travelled through the road twice weekly, taking her supplies to Ibadan. She lamented the hardship commuters plying the road face daily.

Another frequent user on the road who lives in Gbongan but works with the Independent National Electoral Commission in Lagos State, simply identified as Akintade, expressed sadness that such a road could be left in such a terrible state.

“Are the people using the road undeserving of good life?” Akintade queried. He continued, “The road is too strategic to people’s movement, yet it has been left in such a pitiable condition. It is sad. Those in charge must come out to explain what they are doing.”

When approached for comments, the lawmaker representing Osun West senatorial district, Lere Oyewumi, who doubles as the Deputy Minority Leader of the upper chamber, said the fund for the repair of the road had already been captured in the 2024 budget.

Oyewumi, who hails from Ikire, one of the towns along the road, speaking through his media assistant, Timileyin Popoola, further said, “The fund for the repair of the road was captured in the budget as ‘Emergency/palliative repairs of Ibadan-Ife-Ilesa dual carriageway in Oyo and Osun states.’

“That is how it’s being stated there. The road is 224km from Iwo Road (Ibadan) to the Brewery Area in Ilesa. KOPEC Construction Company is the contractor in charge of the project. The repair work has been done on the Asejire Bridge up to the Irewole Local Government secretariat in Ikire.

“People should be patient, once more funds are released to the contractor, work will resume on the road. It is a project that is so dear to us and we will ensure it is done to stop the current hardship people are undergoing.”