Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, was stuck at the RCC junction on Sapele Road, Benin, Edo State after heavy rain made the road flooded and impassable.
According to PUNCH, a video of Friday’s incident is circulating online, with a background voice urging viewers to share the video to show that it’s time for leaders to take the necessary action to help people.
The (male) voice in the background said, “When we asked the government to fix the road, they were busy filling potholes with broken blocks.
They think they are suffering the masses.
Now is the payback time as the masses are not the only ones suffering from the collapse of this road.
“The governor is the one in the vehicle, but it has stopped moving. This is his vehicle (pointing to it), he cannot get off as he is embarrassed.
Everyone (poor and rich) is feeling the brunt of the country’s bad policies,” he added.
After a while, the convoy was seen to move away from the flooded part of the road.
However, Governor Obaseki, said the state government cannot intervene to repair the Benin-Auchi and Benin-Sapele roads because the Federal Government has awarded contracts for their repair.
The governor said it was worrisome that the state’s major federal road networks, which connect several regions of the country, are in poor condition.
He noted that his administration has done everything in its power to appeal to the Federal Government to look into the long term rehabilitation of the dilapidated Federal Roads in Edo State.
Obaseki added that his administration had drawn federal attention to the failed sections of Benin-Auchi Road, Benin-Sapele Road and Benin-Lagos Road, especially the bridge over the Ovia River, but had not taken any action yet.
He said, “Look at the incident that happened on the Ovia River bridge three weeks ago, where we lost several lives following many accidents.
Nothing has been done so far. It shows they don’t care about our state.
“The issue on the Benin-Lagos Road, especially the Ovia River Crossing is becoming a tragedy.
We have lost many lives and we have done everything possible for the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Works to work with us and establish a palliative measure to stop the carnage on that path.”
On Sapele Road, he said: “I was on Sapele Road recently.
After the heavy downpour the road was impassable. What’s going on on Benin-Sapele Road is scandalous.
I don’t think any region should be neglected where the oil resources that support the country come from. We have tried everything possible.
We don’t know what to do again to bring these highways to the attention of the federal government.”
“The Auchi-Ibillo road is so bad that some of our contractors cannot go to their quarries.
We are appealing to the federal government to do modification work on this road but they refused on the grounds that the road is under contract.
If I wanted to do the same for the Benin-Sapele road, I’m not allowed to.
They claim the road has been given out to a contractor.
“Last year, the Benin-Auchi road was closed for about two weeks because food, animals and petroleum products could not reach their destination.
We don’t want such situations this year so they should help us. We are not here to criticize them but to ask for help.
Noting that federal government policy regarding these roads is very confusing, the governor noted that states have historically been able to rehabilitate federal roads and hand the bills to the federal government, but that is no longer possible.
“At one point, they said we can apply and take over the repair of federal highways, but I have yet to see a state that has been given federal highways to repair,” he said.
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