Commuters and motorists were stranded as students and youths protested over deplorable state of Ado Ekiti-Ijan-Ikare road on Monday.
The ever-busy federal highway linking Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti state with Ondo, Kogi, and Abuja among other towns was blocked and barricaded by the irate youths said to be students of Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti.
The protest which lasted for several hours saw the angry students halting human and vehicular movements, thereby causing heavy traffic gridlock along the route and activities grounded to a standstill for the greater part of the day.
Important institutions such as the State Government College, Ado-Ekiti, the Federal Silos, the State Cargo Airport under construction, and Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, and its 400-bed Multi-System Hospital were located along the road.
The students said the protest was to call the attention of the Federal Government and other relevant authorities to the condition of the roads which they said is the only access to their campus.
One of the students, who simply identified himself as Ayodele said due to the state of the road, it is now difficult for students to access their school from the city and their lives being endangered.
“Many students and commuters have died on the road due to its deplorable state. We have been coping with the situation, expecting it would change soon, until few days ago when scores of parents and newly matriculated students of the Polytechnic had to trek about 15-kilometre road, back to the city, because of non-availability of vehicles to convey them back,” Ayodele said.
Also speaking, the trio of the Chairmen, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics, Mr. Sunday Akomolafe; that of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, Mr. Adebayo Daramola; and Non-Academic Staff Union, Adebayo Abubakar, said the protest became necessary after government had turned deaf ears to their plea over the years regarding the road.
According to them, the road had become a death trap, alleging that more than five persons had died this year alone, as a result of accidents occasioned by the poor state of the road.
“We had, on several occasions, contributed personal income to repair certain portions of the road, but its condition was beyond patching, but a total reconstruction,” they said.
The unions also vowed to continue to occupy the road unless government took necessary action.
Some of the motorists and commuters, stranded in the traffic, commended the Polytechnic staff and staff for their courage to call out government, saying the condition of the road is affecting their finances.
They claimed to be spending all their daily earnings maintaining their vehicles as a result of the damages caused by the road.
The founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola had in the last 10 years been solely maintaining the road in question.