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Times and seasons are not just acts of God, but makers of men. About three decades ago, as a secondary school leaver and admission seeker into the university for undergraduate studies, I had to write an article with the title “Ijare Road; the Beginning of the End”, which was published in the defunct Concord Newspaper, at a time when sluggish mail postage travelled with uncertainty in delivery.
Unfortunately, the positive referential implications of this intervention were lost to the quasi-analog age, when the internet wizardry was still some miles away from a developing nation like Nigeria. The imperative of writing the said article was then precipitated by the heavily dusty nature of the road, which necessitated commuters to either dress in multiple clothing or get easily pigeonholed on arrival at Akure, which was not just a symbol of commercialization but of civilization. The people of the rustic Ijare City endured, until reprieve came there way.
However, given the eroding powers of time and inclement weather conditions, the tarred road from Akure to the end of the civilized space at Agbasa in Ijare started a recession that got the road parlous, once again, with the global leadership of the social-cultural umbrella organization of Ijare Egbe Omo Elewe Obi and spirited indigenes of Ijare making efforts, at different times, to ameliorate the sordid conditions of the road. Characteristic of the unending quests that leave blood stains on the thumbnails of a person whose head-hair is invested with lice, Ijare Community persistently sought help from different Ondo State governments, until the selfish one led by Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa elected to heed the call to come to Macedonia to help us!
Of particular note was the commonly known response the government of Late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON (may God continue to rest the soul of the Àmòtékùn General) the gave to the people of Ijare, when he paid a private visit to the town, to attend the funeral service of the father of a friend of his. It was reported that, as a response to the request of the priest that sandwiched the need for the government to intervene in the deplorable condition of the Ijare road in his homily, Akeredolu stated, very categorically and in his known humorous pattern, that the very successful children of the man whose funeral service he came to attend were rich enough to fix the road. It may be an arguable fact that individuals could sacrificially improve the lots of their people, as done by Chief Michael Ade-Ojo, OON (Elizade) in Ilara, but the lavish government patronage enjoyed by the ancient city of Owo, in the area of road constructions, partly reminds us of how a people could enjoy the reputable positioning of their protegees. May we be blessed with good children, where democratic considerations are still negatively skewed!
The evolving democratic culture in Nigeria is still strongly with pragmatic nay scientific established parameters, required to distribute developmental initiatives to citizens. Rather than for our nation to deploy appropriate data, we are still dangling conflicting figures in tactlessness, so much that between Republic of Benin and Niger Republic are vagabond minstrels singing songs that elicit compulsive dance, with rhythm of dangerous cacophony, laced with euphony. In Ondo State, the Lucky Orimisan Aiyeedatiwa that was once hugely criticized for laxity came with a bang, birthing numerous infrastructures across the state. With dredging and construction of pavements in the coastal area, to the dualization that swallows the rocky hills in the Ikare northern hemisphere, are roads in the central region which include that of the 8.8km Akure-Ikota-Ijare Road (6.2km stretch from Akure to Ijare and 2.8km edge to Ikota.
The decision of Aiyedatiwa to construct Ijare Road, which suffered longtime neglect, according to him, must have been borne out of selfishness. Going back to our fast-fading rich oral tradition, partly now diminished as popular culture, we may have to examine Aiyedatiwa’s selfishness along the praxis of the use of a hoe, as against the readily available tendencies of the trickster. The hoe used to be an agricultural tool, used by our forefathers to shape the ground and make heaps. The usage still thrives among farmers whose trades are limited by lack of support from government, leaving us with a marriage to subsistent farming, with a mass population impoverished by insecurity. Relying on the characterization of the hoe, the Yoruba believe that if you give a hoe to a mentally deranged person, he would naturally tendentially heap soil within his two legs, and that was exactly what Aiyedatiwa did, just that his sanity is not only compelling but constructive.
Whereas previous governments allowed the hoe to lie idle on Ijare Road, Aiyedatiwa, even though of Ilaje and not Ijare descent, ceased it, and selfishly used it to scrape the tortuous road, thereby scoring a cheap goal. His selfishness played out at the flagging off of the construction of the road, were he highlighted his commitment to improve the lives of the people, rather than given to empty promises. One major shade of Aiyedatiwa’s selfishness was his OUR EASE Agenda and decision to match the prioritization of indigenous contractors with competence, and awarded the construction to Dortmund and Company Limited, whose CEO, Mr. Pius Ayodele, is a noble son of the soil. Capital flight must have ben checkmated!
In another remarkable demonstration of selfishness, Aiyedatiwa listed the features of the road, that should be delivered in 18 months, to include; a 14-metre shoulders, reinforced concrete drainages, solar-powered streetlights, pedestrian walkways, bus lay-bys, that are all desirable in a link road with the state capital. It was understandable that people in adjourning communities and the people of Ijare, like Oliver Twist, asked the Governor for more interventions in other roads. No doubt, it is unquestionable that roads ranked in various categories be paved and made motorable, as found in other human-inhabited societies.
Now that the construction of Ijare road is proceeding, with the massive placement of drainages, complemented with noticeable earth-works, may I plead with Governor Aiyedatiwa to expand his selfishness, by extending the construction to the road linking Ijare with Ikere, in Ekiti State. Beyond the reality that a well-constructed Ijare-Ikere road would end the avoidable cul-de-sac Ijare has been reduced to in recent times, it would foster socio-economic inclusion and participation between the two sister states, particularly when regional integration is receiving adequate attention in the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu. This is more so as mono access to neighbouring Ekiti State, as witnessed when the Akure-Ado-road failed in the recent past, is not only potentially emotionally burdensome but economically worrisome.
In the next few months, the envisaged 10 minutes journey from Akure to Ijare by Governor Aiyedatiwa would leave the level of aspiration to manifestation, courtesy of his political selfishness in the administration of the resources of Ondo State. As one of the satellite towns bordering Akure, a fast-growing capital of Ondo State, it is expected that Ijare would leverage on her connectivity, to benefit from the positive spills of mortgage and industrial development that Akure may unavoidably vomits. This is not to mention the expansive arable land for agrarian productions. It is also pleasantly heartwarming that plans are on to get Akure-Speaking Communities to interface on their integrative development.
As Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa sustains his selfish infrastructural development in Ondo State, he should not, nonetheless, succumb to the attritions of his detractors, but continue to travel on the path of transparency and accountability, which are the hallmarks of selfish players, amidst political hypocrites. This is without saying that the Levites are duly privileged with offerings on the altar, which must not be consumed in the order of the children of Eli.
Congratulations to the people of Ijare Elewe Obi, as they are now victims of Aiyedatiwa’s selfishness, which would, arguably, birth longtime prosperity!
Professor Busuyi Mekusi
Of 25, Aiyetoro Street, Ijare, writes from Akure.
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