The convoy of Governor Godwin Obaseki was stranded at the dilapidated and flooded RCC junction along the Benin – Sapele – Warri Highway that has become a nightmare to road users.
This is as the governor said conflicting federal government’s position on federal roads in states have made it impossible for his administration to intervene in fixing dilapidated federal roads across the state.
In the video of the incident which reportedly occurred last weekend is trending online, a background voice is heard urging viewers to share the video to show that it is payback time for leaders who fail to take needed action to help the people.
The background (male) voice said, “The governor is the one inside the vehicle but it has stopped moving. This is his vehicle; he cannot come down as he is ashamed. Everyone is feeling the brunt of bad policies in the country,” he added.
Obaseki said while on a visit to the Edo State Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists that “The position and location of Edo particularly Benin City which has been a blessing is now becoming a curse.
A blessing because we are very centrally located in Nigeria and we are one state where all major federal trunks pass through, we are a transport hub so you have the dual carriage coming from the West, one coming from the East, one coming from the South-South and one is supposed to be going to the north.
“And a federal policy relating to its roads is very confusing. In the past, we could go as a state rehabilitate and go and give the federal government the bill for refund. At one point they say states can apply to take over those roads but I am yet to see one state that they have given a federal road to.
“The Auchi-Ibillo Road was so bad that some of our contractors couldn’t go to their quarry site. We appealed to the Federal Government to do palliative work on that road but they refused, saying the road is under contract.
“If I want to do the same to Benin-Sapele Road, I am not allowed to because first it is not our road and secondly the federal government said it has already given it out to a contractor, so I cannot go and anything on that road so we are in a very difficult situation in Edo. It is like our hands and our legs are tied and they say we should run because the only government people know is their state government.
“I am not here to criticise the federal government but I am here to say that we are all Nigerians and it is only fair and proper that the federal government that has 52 percent of our revenue allocation should treat Nigerians that are human beings and that they all come from this country, you don’t have to vote for a federal government for the government to care about you but it is like there is nobody to talk to. Nobody cares about us in Abuja.”