In February 2001, the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded construction of the new Ibadan-Ilorin dual carriageway. The Federal Government then directed the contractors, PW Engineering Company and Reynolds Construction Company to complete and handover the project in 2004.

It was cheering news for motorists and other road users of the old Ibadan-Ilorin single lane. Hopes were high that the incessant logjams and the attendant auto crashes on the old busy road would become dead issues within 36 months. The road itself is less than 150 kilometres, which places Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, almost equidistant from Lagos as it is from Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. Fourteen years after, the old road has literally continued to be a thorn in the flesh of its many users, as the new is yet to be completed. Users of the road are now appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), to complete the abandoned section of the highway from Oyo to Ogbomoso.

The project was divided into three sections. Section I, which is approximately 44.5 kilometres, commences at Ojoo in Ibadan and ends at Irepo Market in Oyo. Section II starts from Oyo and stops at Ogbomoso, while Section III is from Ogbomoso to Gerin-Alimi Roundabout in Ilorin. The Ilorin-Ogbomoso section was awarded to Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) for N12.7 billion, while the Ibadan-Oyo axis was contracted to PW Engineering Company for N14.9 billion later augmented to N19.7 billion to include underpasses and ramps.

The two firms are expected to jointly construct the Oyo to Ogbomoso section. Although sections I and III of the project have been completed, work has been stalled on section II. Thus, travellers travelling from Ibadan enjoy a smooth ride to Oyo, but are forced to link the old road from Oyo to Ogbomoso because that section of the alternate road has not been completed. They can resume the jolly ride to Ilorin from Ogbomoso. But navigating the old road from Oyo to Ogbomoso, has become a nightmare to travellers. Untold agony, traumatic traffic snarls, incidents of fuel fire caused by tankers are the ordeals of those who ply the tortuous portion of the road.

It is a major road. The goods coming to the West from the North are always transported with articulated trailers through the road. Such goods include beans, tomatoes, carrots, cattle and poultry, among others. Tanker drivers are among the major users of the road that links the northern and western parts of the country. Frequent accidents involving them had sent many people to their graves prematurely and disabled others, forcing commuters and motorists plying the route to appeal for urgent government intervention. A traveller at Ilorin Motor Park in Ojoo, Mrs. Ilori Arilebusowo, enjoined the government to complete Section II of the project while a commercial driver, Mr. Olaoye Oluyimika, said: "If the road is completed, the journey from Ibadan to Ilorin will not take more than one hour and 45 minutes. But now, we spend three to four hours on the road.

Other transporters, including Pastor Olaniyi Femi, Akeem Amusat, Kola Olasope said that the stretch of the road from Bushari-Ipeba-Ijawaya-Elega was in deplorable state. Amusat said: "We usually witness fatal accident between Oyo and Ogbomoso at least three times in a week. God even saved me and my passengers on the road few months ago. A truck coming from Ogbomoso towards Oyo overtook another truck at a bend. It faced the on-coming vehicles. I ram my bus into the bush. But some private car drivers that did not know what to do just applied brake suddenly on speed. This caused a multiple-accident as the vehicles coming behind hit one another from the back. But the driver escaped with the truck." The idea to construct the new road was conceived by General Olusegun Obasanjo, while he was military Head of State between 1976 and 1979. The Ibadan-Ilorin dual carriageway was a priority project listed in his handover note to the civilian administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari on October 1, 1979. When he returned as a civilian president in 1999, he found out that the six administrations that ruled the country after him did not do anything on the project.

Obasanjo had noted in his handover note in 1979 that the speedy construction of the dual carriageway would contribute to the Trans Sahara trade. The road is not only vital to the people who live in towns and villages along it, but to the entire nation. It used to be the only road that linked the North and the Southwest in Nigeria. And more importantly, the road forms part of the Trans Sahara Highway, starting from Badagry through Sokoto to Niger Republic up to Algeria. At present, some of the heavy-duty vehicles would move goods from the sea port in Lagos, through the Ibadan-Ilorin road to get the cargoes to other parts of the country, especially the northern axis.

But 12 years after the road was awarded, former Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, in the administration of former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, inaugurated the N20.1billion Ibadan-Oyo section of the four-lane expressway, with a promise that the Federal Government would complete all ongoing road projects, including the Oyo-Ogbomosho section of the Ibadan-Ilorin Expressway. The contract for the 43.25 kilometre Ibadan-Oyo road project was first awarded on January 31, 2001.

When contacted, the Federal Controller, Federal Ministry of Works, Oyo State Filed Headquarters, Engineer Anya Omerekpe, refused to make any comment on the project, saying: "I am a civil servant. So, I can't comment on it unless I have the directive of the permanent secretary in this ministry to do so." Daily Sun learnt that the early completion of Section III of the road from Ogbomoso to Ilorin was aided by the Millennium Development Goal Project fund received by the Kwara State government that supervised the section. The state was chosen as a beneficiary of the fund in the North Central Zone of the country. The duo of Oyo and Kwara States are expected to jointly supervise the Section II of the project.

Former Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly, Monsurat Sunmonu, currently representing Oyo Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, said recently that the Oyo-Ogbomoso axis of Ibadan-Ilorin Expressway has been included among the five roads approved for completion in 2015/2016 by the Eight Assembly. She gave the assurance when she received progress report on the road from the contractor. While expressing her dissatisfaction with the state of the road, especially from Oyo to Ogbomoso, Sunmonu lamented the incessant accidents on it. She promised that she would ensure a follow-up on the development. But one of the directors of the company handling the road project, Mr. Nathan Yusuf, told Sunmonu that the construction of the road was halted due to lack of funds.

One of the incessant road traffic crashes on the road occurred barely three months ago. Seven passengers were said to have lost their lives one Black Sunday when a commercial bus and an articulated vehicle collided on the narrow Oyo - Ogbomoso Road. It was reported that other occupants of the bus sustained varying degrees of injury in the accident.

The Ilorin bound commercial bus reportedly overtook a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) at a dangerous bend, but could not manoeuvre its way back to its lane before it collided with the articulated vehicle. Six persons were said to have died on the spot, while the seventh person died on the way to the hospital. Meanwhile, Daily Sun contacted the Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Oyo State, Mr. Yusuf Salami, on the measures being taken to reduce accidents on the road. He said the persistent traffic bottleneck between Oyo town and Ogbomoso portion of the old road has always been caused by the impatience and recklessness of some motorists.

"As part of our efforts to curb the menace of road traffic crash, we have located a command of FRSC in Oyo that takes charge, particularly safety of road users between Oyo and Ogbomoso. There is another command in Ogbomoso as well. In that area of the road, officials of FRSC are visible on daily basis. Beyond the visibility on the highway, we work in conjunction with other stakeholders that have to do with the road, to ensure that we synergize to reduce the level of road traffic crash on that road," he stated.

A recent tour of the road revealed that the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has begun fixing several tears on the completed and inaugurated Ibadan-Oyo axis of the expressway. But the yearnings of all the stakeholders are the same. They expect President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), to ensure that the change mantra of the All Progressives Congress (APC) reflects on Ibadan-Ilorin Expressway.