GPBI , Ondo/Ekiti youths condemn Dantata and Sawoe over abandonment of Akure/Ado Ekiti road.
– Steve Ovirih.
Great Patriots for Better Initiative ( GPBI) , a non-governmental organization based in Ondo State, and youths of both Ondo and Ekiti states have staged a massive protest to register their displeasure over the abuse of rights of contract execution flagrantly exhibited by a notable construction giant in Nigeria, Dantata and Sawoe.
The protest which held at Igoba along Akure/ Ado Ekiti road on Wednesday , the 21st July had several youths in attendance who displayed placards that had bold inscriptions such as “revoke Ado/ Akure road contract from Dantata and Sawoe,” “We want genuine Contractor not Dantata and Sawoe,” ” save our lives, fix our road,” ” fifteen months old road abandonment is huge corruption,” among other damning inscriptions.
The protesters had a road walk chanting songs that expressed their dissatisfaction with the poor condition of Ado/ Akure road as they moved from First Gate Igoba junction down the stretch of the road towards Iju/ Ita Ogbolu , the adjoining town from Akure which borders Ado Ekiti.
Speaking with thepolity.net in the course of the protest, Executive Director, Great Patriots for Better Initiative, Prince Biyi Bill Poroye ( BBP) said it is disheartening that while the governnment of President Muhammadu Buhari had shown commitment to good road network and by so doing had given approval for the construction of Akure/Ado road, the outfit that got the contract had refused to mobilize to site fifteen months after the contract had been awarded.
Biyi Poroye noted that President Buhari meant well for the South West in terms economic and infrastructural development but contractors and Public servants are those frustrating the President’s good intentions. ” You can imagine this particular Ado/ Akure road, it has become an eyesore, a death trap and the deplorable condition of this road has made it a convenient spot for kidnapping and other criminal activities. If government in its magnanimity approves the construction of this road, it is unacceptable that any contractor worth such calling will fail to follow the terms of the contract by ensuring this road is constructed and made motorable for the people almost fifteen months now. So , we cannot blame government again for the avoidable deaths that have occurred on this road, rather the contractor who failed to do the work has the lion share of the blame and those in the Federal Ministry of Works who are aware of this development and had failed to call Dantata and Sawoe to order too,” Biyi Poroye lamented.
He said his organization, Great Patriots for Better Initiative is committed not only to good governance but ensuring better life for the great majority of Nigerians and they will not fold their arms while the Ado/ Akure road construction contract goes unexecuted, adding that they feel the pains of the people who have to ply the road everyday and who are subjected to the inconveniences of unnecessary waste of manpower on the road that has become terribly damaged and yawning for repairs.
Poroye also said they will sustain this agitation until Federal Government’s attention is drawn to the need to call Dantata and Sawoe to order or better still revoke the contract and give it out to a construction firm that understands the need to do the needful for the convenience of Nigerians plying the route.
The Head of Monitoring, Great Patriots for Better Initiative, Comrade Niyi Majofodun in his own view said Dantata and Sawoe has done a great disservice to the convenience of the people who live within Ado/Akure road axis , noting that road abandonment is a huge threat and risk to lives. He passed a vote of no confidence on Dantata and Sawoe , adding that GPBI will continue to sustain the struggle to ensure that the road is not added to the index of roads approved for construction in Nigeria but permanently abandoned by contractors.
