Successive administrations in Ondo State have tried but have been unsuccessful to put a stop to the needless auto crashes that had claimed the lives of an unspecified number of innocent market women, traders, children, visitors and others along the hilly Oke Alabojuto road in lkare-Akoko area of Ondo State.

The Oke Alabojuto area of the town is a dangerously steep hill shortly before the popular Oja Oba market.


For decades, the people of Ikare Akoko, in Akoko North- East Council Area of the state lived in fear of the hilly road. Succinctly put, plying the road is a nightmare.


Many, who ply the road have either ended up in the mortuary or maimed for life and confined to a wheelchair.

Reports had it that when drivers of articulated vehicles, lorries and cars are ascending and descending the hill, they usually lose control and thereafter, while rolling down the hill, mow down any living being in its path including market women and children and equally damage the fence of the traditional ruler of lkara Akoko, Oba Akakdiri Momoh.


Families recount ordeal

Families of the victims of crashes on the road have tales of woes to tell.

Vanguard gathered that while searching for a permanent solution to the needless loss of lives on the road, stakeholders, including the community leaders organised prayer meetings while others resorted to rituals to appease their deities but the casualties kept increasing as a result of the crashes on the road.


However, succour came when the present administration of Rotimi Akeredolu decided to bring down the hilly road and convert the road to dual carriage way.

Many stakeholders in the town doubted that the hilly road could ever be brought down and reduced to ground level to give way to a dual carriage way, the first in Akokoland.

Now, the notorious Oke Alabojuto hill has been brought down and unnecessary death as a result of crashes halted.

Monarch commends govt

The paramount ruler of Ikare Akoko, Oba Akadiri Momoh said: "This near-miracle of blowing apart the rocky hill has endeared Akeredolu to Ikare people and we will forever be grateful to him for opening up our town to bigger economic activities.

"I received the news with joy. Everybody in the town was very happy about it because they knew the project was going to put a stop to the recurring needless accidents on the road.

"The construction of the Oke Alabojuto road is a wonderful thing to happen to the people of Akokoland and Nigeria in general, because the road links Ondo State to other parts of the country.


https://allafrica.com/stories/201903010230.html?utm_campaign=allafrica%3Aeditor&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=promote%3Aaans%3Aabkgta