Okpebholo, Tinubu Failed Edo People On Roads

“I am telling you in the open to criticize me if I go wrong because I am here to serve Edo people.” – Governor Monday Okpebholo

This quote inspires me to write this piece. My editorial focus is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Monday Okpebholo have failed Edo people in the area of providing motorable roads in this dire time.

Let us start off with Tinubu. He has been unable to give the gateway state of Edo motorable federal roads into and out of the state. Just name it. Is it Ovia Bridge axis; Benin-Auchi Road; Benin-Agbor Road, or the entire stretch of the Bypass from Sapele Road to Oluku Bypass? They were not in good condition.

However, the rainy season has further exposed how bad these road infrastructure are. The Auchi Bypass, for instance, is bald-headed. All the tar on it have been eroded and replaced with holes deep enough for croaking frogs. How about the Benin-Auchi Road leading to the northern part of Nigeria? Only the Ekpoma stretch of the road is really tolerably motorable. You cannot even celebrate this achievement fully because there are gallops on this new road already while the 3–feet drainage provided for the road don't appear adequate for flood control.

It is true that travelling time on the Benin-Auchi Road has reduced due to the enhanced Ekpoma axis. But the experience of using the road is still very nightmarish. Mr Ndidi Ekwemeze, of Rhythm Radio Benin, spent over six hours from Benin to Auchi on September 3rd, 2026, in a journey that took barely three hours in the past. The phobia for the perilous Benin-Auchi Road via Ekpoma is responsible for some motorists taking the alternative narrow Benin-Akure Road to Auchi and back to Benin.

The case of the Benin-Agbor Road is more harrowing. It was given out to a contractor who could not differentiate a payloader from a bulldozer. The result is that it worsened the road as well as motorists' plight.

Mathematicians have lost count of time, Tinubu's Minister of Works, David Umahi, has visited Edo State with a lachrymose baba sala pronouncement that all bad federal roads in the state will be rebuilt. I remember vividly that Umahi was last here in Edo State on September 4th, 2026, during which he launched what he christened ‘OPERATION ROAD RESCUE’ for the roads in question.

According to him, the operation will also address dilapidated Ovia Bridge connecting Edo State to the Southwest region of Nigeria en route to Lagos, as well as rebuild the sinking Ikpoba River Bridge to eliminate its sloping topography. Yes, another promise. The price for getting Umahi back. Yes, another promise.

The price of getting Umahi back to Edo State to re-enact his cinematographic theatrics was huge. Governor Monday Okpebholo revealed he had to travel to France for a meeting with Tinubu on vacation there to brief him on the worsening state of federal road infrastructure in Edo State. It was based on this trip that Umahi launched his new rescue plan for the itemized roads, now earmarked for another round of wasteful, corrupt serial rehabilitation before permanent solutions come.

Meanwhile, had Tinubu left his pet superhighway and coastal road project on the shelf for a while, he would have had enough funds to execute pending bad federal road infrastructure in Edo State and other parts of Nigeria. Well, this is telling Tinubu that his scorecard rating on federal roads in the state is very poor, irredeemably.

Edo people don't believe that he can give them even motorable rehabilitated roads and safe bridges at Ovia and Ikpoba slope between now and the election year in 2027, given the current climatic unpredictable weather these days.

What Tinubu couldn't do in three years cannot be done in three months. No matter how you water a male pawpaw tree, it does not yield fruit like the female specie. Invariably, to avoid parabolic circumlocution, most Edo people simply hold the view that Tinubu in three years of his administration failed to give them good federal road infrastructure. The people don't believe any renewed hope agenda can give them better federal roads in the months ahead.

Interestingly, it is not only bad federal roads that Edo people are complaining about at this auspicious time. They are also worried that most state roads are in disrepair. Edo State, in case you don't know, has a total of 9,700 kilometers of roads, but only approximately 3,000 kilometers are paved. Yet, due to our poor maintenance culture, several of these tarred roads are in bad condition today.

Oshomhole tried his best to rehabilitate these roads, upgrade some of them, as well as add new paved ones to those in existence. When he left office as a governor on November 11, 2016, Oshiomhole left a legacy of durable, quality road infrastructure.

Obaseki who succeeded him in office, awarded over 886.31 kilometers of road for construction. Two years to leaving office, he went as far as approving “Price Augmentation” for contractors to enable them deliver completed durable roads. To showcase that only reputable contractors are awarded roads to build, he publicly advertised road contracts.

in addition, to convince Edo people that his government was spending funds with full proof accountability, he mounted signposts at road construction site, reading TAXPAYERS MONEY AT WORK!

At the end of the day, it turned out that all Obaseki was engaged in was an ego trip in phantasmagoria to deceive Edo people. See, he spent 1.5 trillion of public funds in his 8-years in office and left a huge total debt of over 1.3 trillion. Despite all this, he bequeathed to the people of Edo, poor quantum roads oiled by nauseating fraudulent practices.

Edo State Asset Verification Committee reported this funding on December 11, 2024.

Here is a paraphrase of the committee's statement on the issue: “Outrageous funds were approved for roads, yet contractors and equipments were not on site. Work had not even commenced while it was abandoned, sometimes when it had started. For instance, N4.5 billion was paid for 2.3 kilometers of a road, another N19 billion was approved to construct 8.9 kilometers of road. In one case, N5 billion mobilization fund for a road was paid, but only 15 percent of work was done on the road”

The point being made here is that Okpebholo inherited a lot of bad roads on November 12, 2024, when he assumed office. Also, he knew the magnitude of this problem even before he became the governor of the state. Remember, he used a flooded, eroded road in government reservation area to poke sarcastic fun at Obaseki's poor showings on roads.

A day after he was sworn in as governor, therefore Okpebholo hit the ground running in a bid to address the diabolical road challenges Obaseki left behind. Specifically, on November 13, 2024, Okpebholo, during his first official tour of Benin metropolis, said: “All contractors should return to sites. There is only one dry season in a year, and we intend to make full use of it. Edo people deserve motorable roads, and we will deliver”

Frankly speaking, Okpebholo has undertaken the construction and rehabilitation of some roads in all the three senatorial districts of Edo State. He addressed. He deserved encomium for these achievements. But if the whole truth is to be told, he failed woefully to at least give Benin metropolis good, clean and flood-free roads. More agonizing is the fact that Oba Ovoranmwen Square — the heart of Benin City, capital of Edo State, is a shambolic state of disrepair. Yet, on December 5, 2024, Okpebholo promised to restore the square to its idyllic past glory.

So, take or leave it, Ogbemwelo, Tinubu and Ogbemwelo failed Edo people on roads during this epochal time. Res Ipso loquitor! The facts speak for themselves!!