Hundreds of articulated vehicles, including trailers and fuel tankers, have been stranded for about 48 hours along the Ifaki-Oye-Ilupeju axis of Ekiti State following the collapse of a section of the federal road at Ikupeju-Ekiti, leaving motorists and residents distressed and raising fears of serious economic and safety consequences.
The situation, which has created a massive gridlock on the busy route, has disrupted the movement of goods into and out of the state, with truck drivers lamenting that they have been trapped on the road for days, reports Channels TV.
The development has also heightened safety concerns in the affected community as most of the stranded vehicles are tankers conveying petroleum products, creating fears that any accident or fire outbreak could have devastating consequences for residents and other road users.
Former Senator representing Ekiti North Senatorial District, Senator Ayo Arise, who visited the area, described the situation as alarming and called for urgent intervention by the Federal Government, particularly the Ministry of Works.
Arise said the extent of the gridlock was beyond what he had imagined, likening the traffic situation to the notorious congestion previously experienced around Apapa in Lagos State.
He said he personally experienced the hardship when he arrived in Ekiti from Akure, explaining that what ordinarily should have been a journey of only a few minutes from Ifaki to his destination became a prolonged ordeal.
According to him, he had to remain in the area for several hours because vehicles could neither enter nor exit the affected communities.
His words, “Yesterday, I was monitoring activities on the road because my vehicle came to pick me up from Akure, where I landed at about between 3 and 4 p.m. yesterday evening. And I saw that there was no way to go in or out of Oke-Ekiti, so I had to stay in Ado for some hours.
“I was surprised that we had so many articulated vehicles parked on the road. Some are on the lane going into here, and those coming in from the likes of Lokoja, they couldn’t pass, and those going towards the same direction in Lokoja direction, they too couldn’t pass because the portion of the road had become badly damaged.
“We’ve been going through this for over 15 years because, as a matter of fact,, it’s a total embarrassment.
“If we can reach the Honourable Minister, this needs immediate attention because the effect, the multiplier effect, is just unimaginable.
“Until I saw the extent yesterday, I could never have imagined in my mind that the traffic here is so heavy. This is almost worse than what Apapa used to be.
“The articulated vehicles, the trailers, the trucks, and they are carrying goods, they are carrying containers, they are carrying all manner of stuff that the people expecting would expect to use for this, you know, for whatever they ordered those containers for.
“If we can have some permission to work on a federal road, maybe this particular portion can quickly be fixed so that these people can continue to move”.
Meanwhile, the plight of the stranded truck drivers has further underscored the human cost of the deteriorating road.
One of the drivers, Akanda James Taiwo, said he had been stranded for about 48 hours as the gridlock continued, describing the experience as a major hardship for drivers whose livelihoods depend on constant movement.
Another truck driver, Muhammed Hammed, also lamented the poor state of the road, expressing frustration over the government’s tendency to remember truck drivers and other transport workers mainly when their support is needed during elections.
