Dredging Activities: Magboro Residents Protest Destruction Of Roads By Truckers
Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
In what they described as a ‘pain in their neck’, Magboro residents in Ogun State have protested the deplorable state of their main road.
They said the popular Cele-Oke-Ayo Road which connects all the communities had been damaged by the heavy trucks of sand dredgers that ply the place day and night.
The residents, who trooped out from more than 10 communities in Magboro, displayed different banners with various inscriptions to register their displeasure concerning the damage done to their roads by truck drivers.
They blocked the major road last weekend and prevented trucks carrying sand from the dredging site from moving.
The residents lamented that the dredgers have damaged the only road that connects the whole communities to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Speaking with the newsmen on behalf of the joint CDAs on Tuesday, the Chairman of Abule Oko Development Association, Mr Kunle Adebanjo, said the protest became necessary in order to bring to the attention of the Ogun State Government the damages done to the entire communities by the dredging companies.
Apart from this, he said the public protest was meant to alert the state government to prevail on the dredging companies to fix the main community road or look for alternatives.
“Since the dredging company came two years ago, it has spoilt our road. This has disturbed our peace, businesses, land and people are now relocating because of bad roads.
“Currently the road is in deplorable condition. We cannot drive our cars anymore because of bad road. A few residents who still manage to drive, spend a lot of money to repair their vehicles. Our wives and children have resorted to trekking now because commercial motorcyclists have stopped plying the road.
“We want the government to intervene and prevail on the dredging company so that it can fix our road or leave the road for us and find an alternative road,” the CDA chairman said.
On steps taken in the past to arrest the situation, Adebanjo said the leaders of affected communities had been to Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on many occasions, adding that the state government also sent representatives to inspect the site.
“They conveyed a meeting with us at Abeokuta and the company promised to carry out some palliatives on the road but we are not getting results,” Adebanjo said.
He called on the state government to intervene and prevail on the dredgers to fix the road or find alternatives.
The CDAs affected by the activities of the dredging company include Gaun, New Generation Estate, Peace Garden Estate, Teachers Land, Abule-Oko Unity Estate, Araromi, Pathfinders, Ifesowapo and Glory Land Estate.
