Governor Dapo Abiodun amidst the people.
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has again proven that governance is truly a continued process as he announced his plan to start paying compensation to owners of property demolished by the administration of his predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun for the expansion of some road projects across the state.
The governor who noted through his works commissioner that the compensation would alleviate the sufferings of those affected, lamented that it was double jeopardy as many of the roads were abandoned midway, while others did not take off at all.
The state’s Commissioner for Works, Ade Akinsanya at the weekend, said the governor had approved the compensation payment in phases.
Akinsanya noted that the demolition by Amosun’s administration were unnecessary, adding that it ended up compounding the problems being faced by the current government.
According to him, the state now has billions of compensation claims to contend with in addition to looking for another huge sum of money to complete the abandoned roads.
He noted that the current administration inherited outstanding debt of N202 billion from the Amosun government on roads alone.
The commissioner said the state government had decided on the policy of no demolition in its project execution, except where necessary and unavoidable.
He said: “The last administration had earmarked some houses for demolition preparatory to rehabilitation of Kemta-Somorin Road in Abeokuta. The project is nearing completion without any demolition carried out.
“Our road design and construction is such that we try to avoid demolition. It is actually not necessary to demolish while constructing roads unless it is unavoidable.
“Most of the bridges constructed by that regime were a waste of resources.”
Meanwhile, Abiodun has been praised for his intervention in the compensation process.
A resident of Agbado, who lost many shops to Amosun’s bulldozers, Mr. Abayomi Olanrewaju, commended Governor Abiodún while berating the last administration for subjecting people to unwarranted hardship, even as he regretted that the road had been abandoned for more than six years now that the demolition took place.
Olanrewaju, who said he depended on his shops to survive before the demolition, also disclosed that their road was better before the bulldozer moved in for the massive destruction.
Another resident, Taiwo Adebari, also expressed gratitude to the state government, noting that the compensation will help in alleviating some of their sufferings.
Source: The Guardian
