ABEOKUTA: Changing the face of an ancient City. “Steady and sure, firebrand Ibikunle Amosun, the Ogun State governor, is clearing the rot that is the infrastructure in the State” Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital, has been a screaming metaphor of governmental failure since the return of civil rule in 1999. The State Capital is clearly on the wrong side of the developmental chart in the Country. A good number of those who hold sway as governor and public office-holders in the State during the locust era of the military, and the current civil rule did not do more than paying lip service to the gnawing problem of development and the rot in the City. It is a sad fact that the City is languishing under the heavy yoke of bad roads and the twin problem of flooding and erosion. What would have passed as an average effort by the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel to address this sore in the heart of one of Nigeria’s foremost cities ended in a fiasco, as people who were said to have been mobilized for major contracts in the City simply took a walk with impunity after collecting full payment for the jobs. Top government Officials had always explained the failure of the government to address the plight of the City on the premise that Abeokuta is an ancient town whose plan is lacking in adequate implementation. However, the story of the ancient City is changing. At the inception of his administration last May 2011, Governor Ibikunle Amosun promised the Ogun citizenry that his administration would give attention to the challenges of wresting Abeokuta from infrastructuraldecay, flooding and erosion identified as the loudest sources of misery to the inhabitants of the city. Amosun restated his resolve to ensure a holistic implementation of the Abeokuta Master Plan, reputed to be one of the most badly mauled plans in the Country. Amosun was alarmed at the magnitude of impunity with which the Abeokuta MP was violated in during his first major inspection tour of areas dilapidated by the flood and erosion in the state capital Abeokuta. He was shocked that the same residents of the city, who complained against the menace of flooding and erosion had constructed structures, kiosks and containers to block the natural drains constructed by the founders of the city. During one of the visits to Oke-Ilewo, Ijemo, Kuto and other areas of the city last year, Amosun promised that all illegal structures blocking the moth would be pulled down in the interest of the citizens of the State without any compensation. Although not quite number of people believed the governor then, he has commenced a process in earnest to remove the shameful scar of rot from the city. He has also taken some practical steps to fulfill his promise to recreate the exploits of Gov; Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State in Ogun. He seems to be drawing his inspiration from transforming effect of creative governance in Lagos as shown by the conversion of Oshodi from a centre of filth and crime to a welcoming centre. In the past ten months, Abeokuta residents have witnessed the noticeable impacts of governmental presence. The loudest indication of Amosun’s determination to fulfill his promise to make Abeokuta a modern metropolis in the new face of the City centre popularly referred to as Sokori/Ita-Eko/Totoro Road and other major roads. The Sokori/Ita-Eko/Totoro, which was the busy, rough and crowded areas of the City usually avoided by motorists, has been cleared of illegal structures, motor parks and shanty stalls of traders and others to create the present environment that battles even the worst skeptics of government professed intentions. A new face of road of six lanes has returned to the area. As part of the efforts to ensure environmental sanity in the city, the State Task Force on Bureau of Urban and Physical Planning (BUPP), tagged (Build Right) was empowered to pull down any structure that violates the city’s master plan, especially the government’s rights of way and urge the people to be law abiding and follow the Bureau of Urban and Physical Planning (BUPP) laws of the State. For the first time in the history of the State, the usually narrow roads of the city have been stripped off the contending structures, which had made their desired expansion a tall dream with overhead bridge and also pedestrian bridge in the State, first of its kind in the history of Ogun State. The seriousness of the exercise is underscored by the fact that the government has demolished structures that were erstwhile referred to as “untouchable.” These are structures that belong to very powerful institutions, the wealthy and the influential class in the State and Federal Government. The determination of the administration to enforce total compliance with the government’s right of way and expansion of major roads to give Abeokuta a new face lift considered sacrosanct is clearly indicated by the successful demolition of the Ocean Bank (now Eco Bank) plc at Ibara roundabout, a side view of one of the eatery in the State, Mr. Biggs partially affected, a house belong to the Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo and the fence of his Church also demolished too. For the first time in Abeokuta, several people who had exploited the weakness of previous administrationsto encroach on the right of way including the commercial Bank in the city, got the message and decided to embark on the expected corrective step of vacating the area and relocated. Those illegal structures built without government approval were sealed off by the State special Task Force on Bureau of Urban and Physical Planning (BUPP) under the programmes “Build Right.” Across the City, landlords of such structures deemed illegal by the government have taken the initiative to embark on the demolition themselves. Those who have CofO got their compensation from the State Government for the demolitions. Even as the exercise continues a good number of roads, especially the major ones and streets would be stripped off in due course for roads reconstructionsand expansions, like Lafenwa/Ogtv roads, Itoku/Sapon roads, Akinolugbade/Agbe loba/Quarry roads, Omida/Isale-gbein roads and many more roads and structures that had combined to make Abeokuta a vast city with narrow roads. According to the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Barr; Yusuph Olaniyonu, the owners of illegal structures in the City are to remove them before the arrival of the government’s bulldozers because of the readiness of the government to enforce its directive that they would be made to pay a certain amount of money to government for the demolition services rendered to them. Olaniyonu dismissed critics who accused the government of insensitivity to the plight of the people, whose property were sacrificed for environmental sanity, road reconstruction and expansions in Abeokuta. Such critics have also blamed the government for embarking on the demolition exercise without an arrangement to pay compensation to the victims. Olaniyonu said, “All the people whose house are being pulled down by the government for the road reconstructionsand expansions along Sokori/Ita-Eko/Totoro road had collected their compensations, the government needs to compensate them accordingly and no one has ever complained that he/she had never or not collected his/her compensations.” We have to pull down these structures for the sake of Ogun State beautification policy and in accordance with Abeokuta Master Plan and we have not sealed off a single building that is a legal structure by the Bureau of Urban and Physical Planning (BUPP) Laws, “Build Right.” At least nobody has complained that his building has been pulled down and not being compensated for the reconstruction and expansion of Sokori/Ita-Eko/Totoro roads in Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital. With the first phase of demolition and the additional space added to the major roads like, Sokori/Ita-Eko/Totoro road and others. Abeokuta is like a bride waiting to be decked in colors of gold when the contractors nearly completed the work at the site at the end of the rainy season. Ademola Orunbon
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 21:47:02 +0000