We have suffered on this road

•Residents of Ibadan community beg Makinde for intervention

For residents of Elenusonso and adjoining communities in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, owning a house has become a burden as a deplorable access road leaves them battling slippery inclines, dangerous ravines, high transport fares and frequent vehicle damage. Adam Mosadioluwa reports.

WHEN some residents chose the Elenusonso area in Ibadan to build their houses, little did they know that they would be confronted with problems of accessibility later. This is so because their access road, linking nine different communities in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, has become a nightmare owing to its deplorable state.

 But residents of the community are hopeful that help would still come from the state. They are banking on the urgent intervention of the state governor, Seyi Makinde, who has left no one in doubt of his desire to make every part of the state desirable and accessible.

Spanning about 10 kilometres and connecting the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) axis to the Ido Local Government Secretariat, Elenusonso-Alafara-Ido road, according to the residents, was first carved by members of the community in 1958.

Nearly seven decades later, only part of the route, which serves as a vital link between the NIHORT axis and the Ido Local Government Secretariat, has been tarred, leaving the section from where the existing pavement ends towards Ido in poor and dangerous condition.

Sunday Tribune correspondent, who toured the road from NIHORT into the Elenusonso community, observed its state of disrepair, with deep chasms, slippery mud inclines and collapsed embankments making movement along the road difficult, particularly during the rainy season.

A dangerous road whenever it rains…

 Whenever it rains, returning home is usually a terrible experience for residents of the Elenusonso community. Those without private cars sometimes resort to begging transporters who choose to dare the slippery incline, but at a cost.

Speaking to Sunday Tribune, community leaders said the road towards Ido, first carved with cutlasses and hoes decades ago, received its first government attention during Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s first term, between 2011 and 2015.

Bayo Babajide, the Central Chairman for the nine communities, explained that the then administration decided to handle the road in phases, with the section from NIHORT to where the existing pavement ends serving as the first phase. However, Ajimobi did not return to complete the second phase before his second tenure ended in 2019.

While the current administration had yet to take action on the plight of the communities affected by the road since its inception in 2019, Babajide said they began writing to authorities in 2018 after documenting the entire route from NIHORT to the Ido Local Government Secretariat.

“We documented 5.4 kilometres from where the tarring stopped to Ido Local Government, meaning that the one they did was 4.6 kilometres,” Babajide said.

Elenusonso residents, who had long chosen resilience, were never silent about their plight. The central chairman said they also appeared on several radio stations and wrote to government officials, including the Chief of Staff and lawmakers representing the area, over the years.

According to him, government officials visited the road several times, but none of the visits had not brought succour to the people.

 Another resident, Abdul-Fatai Adetokun, who is the Mogaji Agbefi of the community, said the road had become a burden for residents, particularly workers who spend a significant part of their earnings on transportation.

“We’ve suffered on this road. It has never been tarred before. It’s now a death trap,” he said, revealing that the situation had also made some residents pack out of the community.

Adetokun said the section that was previously tarred from NIHORT to Alafara had also deteriorated. “Even the phase that was done then is now in a very poor state and has turned into a death trap,” he added.

READ ALSO: [VIDEO]: Elenusonso residents beg Oyo govt to fix their bad roads

While lamenting how the condition of the road had also pushed up transport fares for residents, Adetokun said journeys that should ordinarily cost about ₦500 can rise to ₦1,500, while some residents cough up ₦3,000 daily on transportation. The increase, he said, means some workers end up spending a large part of their monthly earnings simply getting to and from work.

More letters but human, economic losses persist

While explaining how the community and government had exchanged correspondence since 2018, the community leaders said the first letter dated June 14, 2018, was acknowledged on June 29, 2018, through a letter with reference number HW.401/T3/97, signed by an engineer, Mr A. B. Afewologun, on behalf of the Works Commissioner. Other letters have since been written by the affected communities and the most recent one was dated December 15, 2025.

While all the letters were acknowledged by the ministry with assurances that they were receiving “necessary attention”, the road still remains in a state of despair.

“Whenever we write letters to the government, they always assure us that the road will be done. They will just call us to come and collect an acknowledgment letter,” said Salako Abolade, the Central Secretary of the communities.

Also speaking on a series of letters appealing for government intervention, Chief Salawu Olaniyi, the Osi Balogun of Elenusonso community, said officials from the Ministry of Works had also visited the road several times to measure the section that remained untarred, raising hopes that later resulted in a mirage.

 “They’ve taken deceptive steps many times. Once they see that we are being vocal about the state of the road, they will bring a bus from the Ministry of Works. They have come to measure this road from where the tarring ended to Ido at least 15 times,” he said.

Olaniyi added that the poor condition of the road also affected farmers and artisans who needed to move goods and services into and out of the community.

Decrying how the road has become an unavoidably dangerous path for people of the area, Olaniyi recalled how God saved pupils from the community when a slippery incline forced their school buses into a ravine last year.

“Last year, two private school buses fell into the ravine and it was God that saved the pupils’ lives,” he recalled.

Businesses, transporters count losses as homeowners flee

While the community renews its hope through yearly letters to the government, worsening road conditions are forcing many homeowners whose businesses require daily commuting to the city to relocate to more convenient areas. This, expectedly, has affected businesses.

Mrs Omoniyi, a trader who sells building materials, said the condition of the only access road to the community had affected their businesses, with traders reporting declining patronage amid homeowners’ departure.

 “The bad road is affecting sales,” she said. “Most people who own houses here are moving out to rent houses in the city,” she added.

Sikiru Anifowose, a young building contractor, corroborated Omoniyi, saying some residents who had previously moved into the area were leaving.

 “People who have moved in here before are moving out,” he said.

For transporters and car owners, the situation means coughing up more hard-earned money on frequent vehicle repairs, especially during the rainy season.

Olayemi Olusope, a commercial motorcycle rider, said the road had damaged his motorcycle several times, with much of his earnings going into repairs.

 “Whenever it rains, it leads to accidents. The road is always slippery. It always damages cars and bikes. In fact, it has damaged my bike many times. Most of the money I’m making from this work always ends up in the pockets of those repairing my bike because I always visit them frequently due to the state of the road,” he lamented.

When contacted by Sunday Tribune, the Oyo State Commissioner for Public Works and Transport, Olawale Mogbonjubola, said the road was not the responsibility of the state but of the local government.

When probed further about the road, the commissioner subsequently directed Sunday Tribune to the Director of Highways at the ministry for comment.

In a chat with Sunday Tribune at his office, the Director of Highways, Mr Olajide Fadare, acknowledged issuing one of the acknowledgement letters obtained by Sunday Tribune.

He explained that the letters were forwarded to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, which, according to him, has responsibility for local government affairs in the state.

Responding to a question on how the road has become a nightmare for the community, Fadare urged them not to give up on their demand for the construction of the road, advising the community to direct subsequent letters to both the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters.

According to him, writing to the two ministries simultaneously could help speed up the process.