Mufliat Bello Adeshewa

Residents of Gerewu and neighbouring Oke Odo communities in Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State have appealed to the state government to urgently rehabilitate their roads, saying the deplorable condition has affected movement, businesses and access to healthcare.

Deputy Chairman of Gerewu, Alhaji Mashood Adisa, said residents have been contributing ₦10,000 every four months to fill damaged portions of the roads despite repeated appeals to the government. “For the past 14 years that my fathers have been living here, they have been taking steps that are not small. Every four months, we contribute ₦10,000, which we use to fill the roads. We wrote letters to the Ministry, we organised protests, but Gerewu is not a small community,” Adisa said.

A resident, Olawale Shehu, said the community continues to pay electricity bills despite receiving little or no power, while a second transformer supplied more than three years ago remains uninstalled because residents cannot afford the installation cost. “We pay as good citizens, but we only pay for darkness; we are not paying for light we see. I pity many people who have their shops, who sell frozen foods here, because I wonder how they make their sales. They run into losses,” Shehu said.

Residents said the roads become worse during the rainy season, making parts of the communities difficult to access and affecting commercial transport operators.

Proprietor of Laola Block Industry, Kamorudeen Oyegbemi Laola, said poor road access could pose serious challenges during medical emergencies, particularly for pregnant women. “When a pregnant woman goes into labour and we need to rush her to the maternity ward, we can’t find a vehicle quickly. Okada and Maruwa drivers refuse to come in because they complain about how bad the road is,” he said.