A fortnight ago, I was in Ondo state to
attend an event; that was the day the heavens chose to open up. The rainy
season seems to have started early this year, and whenever it rains, even
mother earth opens up to drink water from the skies, the heat wave of the dry
season abates, a certain balance is restored to the environment, man, animal
and nature are re-united in a silent cosmic communion. It didn’t just rain on
this particular day. It rained cats and dogs. On the first leg of the journey, I
had travelled to Akure through the Ibadan-Ilesha route and I felt this was a
particularly stressful road. By the time we got to Ikeji-Arakeji, my stomach
was tied in knots. I was so distressed I felt I needed sleeping tablets to
survive the rest of the journey. My limbs ached after more than five hours of a
journey that had become a trial and error experiment on crazily damaged roads.
I resolved that I would not take that route back. I also sympathized with
my friends from that part of the country who have to endure so much punishment
to travel from Lagos or wherever to their homes in the Northern part of
Yorubaland. Navigating one bump after another, jumping from one pothole into
another and having to manage all the dangers that lie in wait on the long road
to one’s destination is absolute nightmare. The Ife-Ilesha bypass, which used
to be so smooth has become really bad, it has fallen into shameful disrepair, a
signpost of poor maintenance and the poor quality of road construction, with
the contractors, gaining more than the people in the long run.
