The Debacle of The Proposed Weight Bar Across Olaiya Flyover, Osogbo -by Goke Omigbodun

I just finished listening to "Frank Talk" on Rave FM 91.7, this Thursday morning, 24th October 2024 - a very interesting session with Daniel Odeyemi playing the devil's advocate rightly, but Osun Information Commissioner Kolapo Alimi doing his best to be as articulate as he would ordinarily be, but with very little success. Understandably, it's a tough task defending awkward positions!

It was quite interesting listening to Hon. Kolapo Alimi, arguing fiercely, that there was never a need for the Olaiya Flyover built by the immediate past Governor Gboyega Oyetola, which to deep thinking minds is even more desirable than the ongoing ones at Oke-Fia and Ilobu Road being built by the present Governor Ademola Adeleke.

I feel justified the more now about my position all along to date, that the  five flyovers embarked upon simultaneously now by the Osun State Government, are being built for ulterior motives, rather than being immediately required for the sustainable development of Osun State. I emphasize *’immediately’*, against the backdrop of more pressing sustainable development issues that would ultimately lead to the volume of vehicular traffic in Osun State that would necessitate the flyovers.

Let me be clear early enough that I honestly supported and still support the introduction of the Olaiya Flyover at the time it was built, to reduce traffic blockages and accidents that were mainly head-on collision of vehicles there....there not even a roundabout there, if my memory is correct. Although it had its cosmetic undertone too as the first flyover in Osogbo City Centre, hardly could such an appeal be faulted anyway and that flyover, to some of us, is justifiable any day. 

I am also emphatic in supporting a weight bar across the bridge now, by the succeeding Adeleke administration, to limit live loads climbing the flyover, irrespective of its gradient being slight enough to allow the passage of such heavy vehicles without rolling backwards. The less live load of heavy trucks on the flyover like any other, the more likelihood of its longer lifespan.

Now back to the issue of the five cosmetic flyovers now being built in the State, the volume of traffic at Aromire-Allen Avenue - Obafemi Awolowo Road junction in Ikeja, Lagos must be more than ten times all of the traffic in Osun State combined, and what you have branching off Obafemi Awolowo Road are many slip out tarred roads ahead of the big roundabout with functional traffic lights. Pray what do we need all the five flyovers embarked upon simultaneously for at the moment? 

The Ademola Adeleke administration finds itself earning from the Federal Allocation now into Osun State almost five times what the Oyetola administration was earning from about ₦36 billion in 2022, to 141.6 billion in 2023 and close to ₦200 billon so far in 2024... Must all these funds be frittered on fancy flyovers? 

1. Shouldn't Osun be manifestly working on our comparative advantage and amendments to the Nigerian constitution, to be pumping development funds int  Electricity generation, transmission and distribution for Osun people? Can't Osun in fact generate additional revenue, selling electricity to neighbouring States of the federation?

2. Shouldn't the governor have entirely cleared the backlog of accumulated unpaid salaries and pensions, from increased Osun allocation, that he openly promised to clear within six months of assumption of office as Osun Governor? And wouldn't that be the best palliative for the Osun State serving and retired workforce?

3. Shouldn't many rural roads be now tarred for integration into cities, for agricultural produce to move quickly, and discourage rural-urban drift?

4. Shouldn't the leeway States have with controlling security organisations like "Amotekun" not be explored seriously to guarantee safe farms within Osun State, to launch us into the status of a food basket for Western Nigeria?

5. Shouldn't direct intervention be felt by cash crop farmers, especially of Cocoa and Oil-palm? By the way, the same computation that makes a gallon of palm oil a little more expensive than petrol on our streets is an indication of the cost of a barrel of oil palm being higher than that of crude oil in the international commodity market.... Hasn't anyone in the present Osun State government heard or read this from us and others before?

Must all the windfall of Federal Allocation into all States of the federation be frittered into cosmetics by the present Osun State Government?!

I have never hidden the fact from day one, that I pray for the success of the Ademola Adeleke administration in Osun State and would support good governance by anyone for Osun State, as I have no other home than in  Osogbo, its capital. If I sleep anywhere else today, it would be in a Guest House or other hospitality facilities.

I am therefore writing this in *constructive criticism* of today's government of Ademola Adeleke in Osun, since he still has at least two solid years for this term he is on, to make amends. Our fathers would refer to such as the sun still shinning bright enough to dry laundered apparels.

I will still not be surprised anyway if prebendalist beneficiaries would launch an all-out attack against the writer of this piece, rather than dealing with the wisdom in the message.

Let the increased revenue of Osun State today, which is almost five times what it was with Governor Oyetola, therefore be appropriated for sustainable development, and not fancies that would line pockets of politicians in government thus sustaining the vicious cycles of poverty perpetuated in our socioeconomic climes. 

Goke Omigbodun

Convener: Good Governance Globally