Residents groan as Benin cosmopolitan roads become deplorable

The tales of woe over the deplorable state of roads in Edo are not limited to commuters in transit on the linking highways in the state, as residents of Benin City, the state capital, also groan as most intra-city roads have become deplorable.

Most hit are roads within the Government Reserved Areas (GRA), which were constructed decades ago without any visible rehabilitation work done by successive governments in the state.

But more appalling is the condition of the Oba Ovoranmen Square, otherwise known as Ring Road, which, in recent months, has become an eyesore with potholes and deep craters, with the residents of the metropolitan city calling on Governor Monday Okpebholo to rescue the city centre.

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From the Mission Road, Oba Market Road and Plymouth Road entries to the Ring Road, it has become a herculean task for commuters using the square as they meander through the numerous potholes that have almost rendered the city centre impassable.

The situation is indescribable, especially in the early hours of the day when workers struggle to get to work and late in the evening, when the workers and traders close for the day.

Besides, commercial drivers that were previously barred from dropping and picking up passengers at the Kings Square have turned the place into a motor park, just as the rains have not helped matters either, as vehicles break down in the potholes that are usually covered by erosion.

In the GRA, Ihama Road by the House of Assembly Quarters remains impassable whenever it rains, while the Boundary Road towards Airport Road and Adesuwa Grammar School Road suffers the same fate whenever the rain falls.

Giwa Amu, Gapiona and other adjoining roads are also at the mercy of erosion as there are no…