The residents of Edu-Agbara, in Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State are currently bemoaning the deplorable state of the roads leading to their community.
The people are also lamenting their seeming neglect by the government, saying in spite of their collective efforts to give the town a face-lift within the limits of their own resources, nobody has shown any concern about their plight.
The recent heavy rains, in the recent past, have not helped matters as the major roads leading to the town are flooded due to the non-existence of the drainage systems.
A community leader, Hon. Jide Taiwo, told our correspondent that despite the bad state of the roads, it was also through communal efforts that electricity was brought into the community.
According to him, “The roads leading to the community with a population of over 100,000 people are like death traps; there are dangerous pot-holes everywhere. A journey that covers a distance of less than one kilometer to the major road from Agbara- Lusada, now takes about an hour due to the deplorable condition of the roads.”
Jide also noted that the community was in dire need of other basic infrastructure that should make life enjoyable for the residents of Edu.
He added that the only secondary school in the community had been the only one serving more than six other adjourning towns in the area.
“Here is Edu. We have Agbogun, Idorawa,Idonyin, Medina, Agbara and other communities around. You could see that the only secondary school here –Edu Community, serves all these other communities. Now, the structure of the school is in shambles. The building is dilapidated. There are no doors, windows and even roofing sheets on the buildings have been carted away by the last storm that hit the entire community.
“Aside from this, there is no pipe borne water here. The community depends largely on well water that is not potable. Only few residents that could afford it, have sunk borehole in their compounds. If I can now ask; where then are the promises that were made to us during the campaigns?
Jide lamented that despite all the efforts made by the community, “None of those politicians that we voted for has deemed it fit to come to our aid by seeing to the alleviation of the suffering of our people. All hope is not lost. We know that our governor is a listening governor, he would surely remember us here in Edu.
“We want our roads tarred so that our people can freely take their farm produce to the market, either at Agbara or Lusada. Bad roads in this area have contributed to the hike in the price of farm produce because, the residents here are farmers. Equally, we need public taps that are running”, he said.
Another community leader, Mr. Rotimi Jacob, said that Edu community, “In spite of its population, cannot boast of a standard market”.
According to Jacob, “Edu is a big town and the residents are peace – loving people. It pains me the most that as big as we are, our community does not have a market place. Majority of the residents here are farmers. We need good roads, constant electricity and security. I know that Governor Amosun is our man. He should please visit this community and feel the pulse of the people. We are really suffering. Our roads are bad. We want of children to be fully engaged in meaningful jobs. Some of them have left school, but there is no job.Edu can generate a lot of revenue to the government coffers, if resources are judiciously managed. We want the government to play the roles expected of it”.
Our correspondent’s investigations revealed that most of the developments recorded so far in the community had been by communal efforts.
A furniture maker also resident in the community, Mr. Adewunmi Taiwo said, “The electricity poles were erected by the community through the Community Development Association. The same thing applicable to the drainage system that are noted to be collapsing. We need government’s presence here. We need security because, we rarely feel the impact of police from Agbara. They rarely patrol our streets.”
