Lawyers protest over ‘impassable roads’ in Ogun
Members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ota branch in Ogun State, yesterday boycotted the courtrooms and protested against what they called impassable roads in the state. The lawyers who stormed streets in Ota, Ado Odo/Ota Local Government, were armed with placards with various inscriptions such as: “FG, stop killing people instalmentally via bad roads”, […]
Members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ota branch in Ogun State, yesterday boycotted the courtrooms and protested against what they called impassable roads in the state.
The lawyers who stormed streets in Ota, Ado Odo/Ota Local Government, were armed with placards with various inscriptions such as: “FG, stop killing people instalmentally via bad roads”, “Spending hours from Ota to Abeokuta is killing”, “FG, where are billions budgeted for our roads?”, “Bad roads have turned many children to orphans”, “Ota Roads: Hell on earth”, “Gov Dapo Abiodun: Right the wrongs past governors meted against Ota and its environs” among others.
The branch chairman, Isaac Ogbah, who led lawyers in the peaceful protest, said all roads in the state were deplorable, causing hardship to residents.
Ogah said as lawyers living and practising in Ota and its environs, it was necessary to give direction to the people and ensure the advancement of the cause of the country.
He, however, gave the federal and state governments 14 days to make specific statement on the roads.
He said: “There is no good road in Ogun State. All the roads have failed. The lawyers and judges don’t get to courts on time due to the condition of these roads. The residents too are suffering.
“Researches have shown that the road network in Nigeria is about 194,000kms, many of these roads are bad, owing to the carelessness of the concerned authorities.
“In many instances, though budget allocations are made, nothing reasonable happens at the end of the day.
“Among the major bad roads that are of utmost concern are; the Sango-Ota-Owode-Idiroko expressway, Atan-Agbara -Lusada expressway, Lagos-Abeokuta expressway among others.”