Akure, March 4, 2022

Ondo State Government has called on residents, particularly in Owo, Ikare-Akoko, Oba-Ile and Akure, where it is expanding roads to stop encroaching on the Right-of-Way.

Commissioner for Infrastructure, Lands and Housing, Engr. Raimi Aminu, made the call on Friday in Akure at a meeting he held with chairmen of Akoko North-East, Owo, Akure North and Akure South Local Government Areas.

Aminu decried the rate at which people extended their buildings to walkways and the Right-of-Way already acquired and paid for by government.

“There is a standard acquired area that serves as our Right-of-Way for the road construction.

“Some people, after the construction, will now place their containers on it. Some would even construct shops or fence, like what we saw at Ikare-Akoko.

“Government wants to take drastic action. That is why we summoned this meeting with the chairmen of the affected local governments to brainstorm and fashion a way out.

“Where an area is acquired and paid for, nobody should go there. Those areas have been earmarked for electrification, beautification and other infrastructure that will serve the road.

“We have discovered that gradually, some people have been migrating back to the road,’’ the commissioner lamented.

He said government would not hesitate to demolish such structures if the affected individuals failed to comply with its directives in that regard.

The commissioner also condemned the action of property developers who dumped building materials such as sand, granite and blocks on the roads or inside drainage canals.

He stressed the need for residents to stop disposing refuse in waterways and warned that government would take drastic action to enforce existing environmental laws.

Aminu also called for synergy between the state’s Ministry of Environment and the local government Environmental Officers to curb the menace of improper waste disposal.

He condemned the situation where people burnt tyres on asphalted roads while staging protests, noting that such action “weakens the roads and reduces their lifespans’’.

Responding on behalf of his colleagues, Chairman of Akoko North-East Local Government Council, Mr. Asimiyu Adekunle, pledged their readiness to join hands with the state government to mitigate abuses of the roads.

Adekunle called for the cooperation of the Ministry of Environment in enforcing environmental laws.