OGROMA: THE JOURNEY SO FAR

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The state of roads in any city or country has been said to be one of the major indices in measuring and accessing its development, therefore the relevance of a good network of roads in any society cannot be over-emphasised.

The realization of this incontestable fact coupled with the qualitative leadership style of the state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel brought about the birth of Ogun State Road Maintenance Agency (OGROMA) three months after commencement of his administration in the year 2003.

Precisely, OGROMA was inaugurated on 23rd July 2003 to function as a rapid response road maintenance squad with a mandate to restore bad roads to a state of usability and forestall motoring comfort throughout the state.

Before the creation of OGROMA, virtually all roads in Ogun State were in various levels of dilapidation or disrepair crying for urgent attention but no sooner than OGROMA was created that things started shapening up, so much that during the first tenure of the Otunba Gbenga Daniel led administration about 520 roads were either rehabilitated or constructed across the four zones in the state.

Few among roads constructed during the first term includes Ijemo-Oke Padi road Abeokuta, Isabo – NUD road Abeokuta, Motoye Eredo road Isara Remo, Obada Market road Ijebu-Igbo, Prison road Sagamu, Onabamiro Street Ijebu-Ode, Agosasa main township road in Yewa, Tube road Ipokia, Ala-Igbile-Jobore Irete Omu road, Oru-Awa Ilaporu road Ijebu, Alapo road Ijebu-Ode, GRA road Sabo Sagamu, Owode Ilaro road, Yewa Obafemi Awolowo road Ikene Remo, Ilese road Ijebu-Ode, Kugba road Abeokuta, Osiele main township road in Odeda local government and several others too numerous to mention.

The crown of OGROMA’s achievements during the first tenure still remains the dualisation of Abeokuta-Kobape-Siun-Sagamu road a 37km inter city road which was installed with street lights throughout the entire length.

One beautiful feature of this construction work is that it was built by a team of Nigerian indigenous Engineers (Civil Servants from Ogun State) thereby saving several millions of naira which would have been gulped if awarded by contract.

It is on this milestone of achievement that the Agency got its name changed from Ogun State Road Maintenance Agency to Ogun State Road Management Agency with the same acronym “OGROMA”.

Worthy of note is the on-going dualisation of Ilisan-Ago Iwoye dualisation project which has today recorded appreciable progress as the Agency has been able to demystify the fallacy that bridge works is meant only for expatriates in engineering. Ona bridge has been successfully completed and opened to traffic while the second bridge is over 60% completed.

Many people would have thought that all the activities of OGROMA were mere political gimmicks aimed at getting the people to vote for the continuity of the government in power for a second term, and that once elected again, the giant strides of the OGD led administration would be truncated. This is because the common belief is that second term governors don’t perform. But OGROMA has again been able to prove this wrong as evident in the achievements of the Agency within last one year of the administration’s second tenure.

Apart from the normal routine maintenance of roads and sectional rehabilitation for which OGROMA was initially created, the Agency has constructed several roads of very high quality in the last one year cut across the three senatorial districts or better still, the four zones of the state: Remo, Egba, Ijebu and Yewa.

Few among newly constructed roads during the second term includes Kuto - Nawarudeen road Abeokuta which was constructed to create a bye pass from Kuto to Nawarudeen there decongesting Kuto market junction, this was commissioned by the governor in October 2007.

Plaza road in Sango Otta was also reconstructed by the Agency likewise Market road, Owode Yewa, Onipara road Ipara Remo, Access road to the Polytechnic Ijebu Igbo (now Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic), Ayawoele road Alagbole near Akute, Kojumaribi road Abeokuta, Iberekodo – Elega road Abeokuta, Ikija main township road and Owu Ijebu township road to mention a few.

Apart from the above several other projects are going on simultaneously across the four zones of the state and are at various levels of completion.

Few among these includes Ogunyanwo Street Sagamu, Lafenwa Odo-Eran/Sabo Gaa road Abeokuta, Alari – Ilase Ifoyintedo road, a 14km road in Ipokia local government, Abbas road Ijebu-Ode, Ali-Isiba road Sango Otta, Otegbeye road Ilaro, Ogunlegi road network Ijebu Igbo, Soluade road Abeokuta, Ilo Awela road Sango Otta, Poluga Oduduwa road Ijebu Ife and several others.

Under dualisation projects, the second asphalt surfacing of Abeokuta – Kobape – Siun – Sagamu road which had been left undone to allow some funding relief as the cost of the first and second layers of asphalt could not be borne simultaneously by the state government, while also allowing for detection of possible areas of blemish in areas where the underlying soil is weak for correction has since commenced from Abeokuta end to Kobape and would be completed to the Sagamu interchange by the end of the year.

As mentioned earlier the dualisation of Ilisan Ago-Iwoye road is progressing with the commencement of the other two bridges having completed the first one. A clear testimony of the advancement of the Nigerian Engineers and an indication that given equal opportunities the Nigeria indigenous engineer can complete favourably with its expatriate counterparts.

The newly dualised Lalubu road, Oke Ilewo Abeokuta yet is another demonstration of the proficiency of the Nigerian engineer and in particular Ogun State Civil Service given the right atmosphere.

This road by all accounts is a model road in all facets of road construction, having three lanes at both directions, concrete pedestrians walkways and central median finished with beautiful paving stones, the elaborate lane markings and cat eyes reflections and street lighting at the median stripe all shows a remarkable effort of OGROMA in road construction.

Without being immodest, OGROMA has been able to carve a niche for itself such that today it is a household name in the area of road development in Nigeria and will continue with no less enthusiasm to sustain and even surpass its achievements so far.