The contractor handling the expansion of river banks under the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) has been asked not to block the Akanran road at Ogbere-Tioya bridge to vehicular movement until suitable alternatives have been found for the convenience of road users.

The contractor has earlier blocked the road, which led to congestion of traffic movement and difficulty for residents of the area to move freely.

The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Dr. Idowu Oyeleke who visited the project site on Monday morning after he learnt of the tension the blockade created said as good as the river bank expansion project was, the greater good was for the people that would benefit from it to be given better alternative route to ply till the project would be completed.

Oyeleke who was at the site alongside the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Bashir Olanrewaju told the contractor that the rules of ethics and standard practice called for the resolution on the best alternative before the road could be blocked.

He said millions of Oyo State indigenes live along over hundred communities that spanned the Ona Ara local government where the road connected and across to neighboring Ogun State.

“I got the information this morning from a fellow Commissioner that tension has been high over the blockade of the road without a better alternative, the alternative given by the contractor, as can be seen is not known to many people and it is chaotic, so we have removed the blockade until we can find better alternative that will be accessible and convenient for the people.

“We were told that some people want to take the opportunity created by this tension to spark crisis in the area and we will not allow such to happen, this intervention is to nip crisis in the bud.”

The Commissioner later held a meeting with the management of IUFMP and the representatives of the consultant on the project where a window of three days was given for the agency to work with the contractor and find a better option for a route to be used in the meantime before the major roads could be blocked.

A resident of the area, Alhaji Kolapo Dairo called on the contractor to expedite action on the project to ease the pain people passed through daily on the alternative route, which he said was not helping to ease the burden of vehicular movement.

Signed:

Wasiu Olatubosun (P.hd),

Hon. Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Ibadan.

Monday 22nd February, 2021.